Spine of Thunder
by splash9123
Summary: Trusting people is hard to come by when you are the Kyubi Jinchuuriki. Struggling through the academy, now Naruto Uzumaki has the world at his fingertips. With surprises along the way, can Naruto become the most powerful ninja and prevent anyone from telling him what to do? Team 7 definitely has something to say about that!
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, here is some forewarning, this is an AU and it starts from the genin graduation.**

**Things to note: Naruto doesn't have the whisker marks on his face. Apart from that, everything about his appearance is the same. If you have any further questions, either PM me them or review and i will answer as best as I without giving away too much!**

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Naruto had passed his graduation exam by the skin of his teeth. All of the hard work that he had put into studying for the written exam, practicing throwing kunai and shuriken, punching and kicking logs repetitively… It all paid off.

What the blonde haired boy didn't know was that he hadn't actually passed because of his skills as a shinobi. Due to the rather poor and out dated curriculum of the academy, Naruto didn't pass due to the fact that he hadn't made a proper clone.

The bullshit speech that was given by Iruka under the orders of the Hokage was that due to Naruto having better grades in other subjects, they totalled up to make a combined score which was above the pass grade. This was fine enough for Naruto Uzumaki as it easily brought him closer to his goals of becoming the most powerful shinobi in the world.

That day would have gone just as planned for Hiruzen Sarutobi if it wasn't for one major detail. The academy chunin instructor partnering Iruka had gone and stolen the forbidden scroll inside his office. This was something that the god of shinobi would have to look into later on as there was no hope a run of the mill chunin would be able to do something like that. Thankfully for Konoha, the chunin was apprehended by the ANBU special forces. The damage was done though as Mizuki had told Naruto of his status as a jinchuuriki.

Since he had a high priority mission to go and deliver the forbidden scroll to Orochimaru, he didn't spend any time longer surveying the damage that he had caused.

The resulting unleashing of information had rooted the poor blonde boy to his core. Everything in finally clicked into gear; he now knew why he was hated by the entire popularity of Konoha. He now knew why everything in life seemed as if it was against him.

Whilst he was a very cynical person in general, learning this newfound piece of information was enough to push Naruto over the edge. It rammed down the point that Naruto had learned to live by. It was that you could not trust anyone but yourself. The only person who 100% completely stood by you when the cards were down was yourself.

This was in contrast to the fact that the village hidden in the leaves was a village that prided itself on the fact that it had the greatest teamwork out of them all. They sprouted this as if it was the sole reason as to why they were known as the strongest hidden village.

It was this that made Naruto's situation even worse because he didn't bother to try and make friends. Well he did try and make friends but it didn't turn out well when other kids were told by their parents to not associate with him. After a while of the pain he felt inside, Naruto didn't bother trying anymore because it simply made it easier to deal with the pain. Quite frankly, it damn hurt him when he saw everyone else around him have friends to play with whilst he had no one. It also hurt when he saw kids leave with their respective families whilst he knew that he would be going home to an empty house.

Thankfully, the team selections in which he had to attend were one week away. In the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki, someone who had been confined to civilian level material at the general library, well it now meant that he could access genin level material. He only had to suffer being subjugated for a few more years before no one would be able to tell him what to do.

Naruto was confident now that he had access to a whole lot more shinobi jutsus, he could become a chunin where the world would become his oyster.

The door to becoming a stronger shinobi had opened up considerably more and the newly instated genin was keen to blow that door wide open. First thing was first though, he needed to go to bed and get a good night sleep. There was a lot of training that he was going to be doing in the near future.

**The next day**

Making his way through the genin section of the library, Naruto was trying to find a book that would help him improve himself as a shinobi. It wasn't that there wasn't anything for him to read which there was… it was just that Naruto didn't know which book to read. All of them seemed similar due to their names. It was then that Naruto saw a small yellow coloured book caught his attention due to the title on it.

_So you made Genin? You're still shit_

What struck Naruto was that he was used to things being sugar coated in the academy. In complete contrast to that, this book even had a vulgar title. The blonde haired Uzumaki had the hopes that it would give him the proper information that he needed rather than glossing over it like what he felt the academy did

Turning over the page to the front cover, Naruto had a quick read through the contents as well as the first main page. He was instantly hooked onto it and new that it was something that he shouldn't just rent, but he should also find a proper copy and buy it.

Thanks to the writing on the front, Naruto knew that he would get a free piece of chakra paper to test out his affinity as one came with the book.

Eventually, after about an hour and a half of searching, Naruto finally found a shinobi store that would sell him the book. It wasn't as if there was some convoluted bullshit prejudice that some would believe to occur, it was just that it was a rather unpopular book and not many stores stocked it.

Once it was done, Naruto made his way into an empty training ground and sat down on the ground. With everything else taken care of, the blonde haired boy opened up the book and started reading from where he left last time.

_Okay, so now that we have gotten all of that introductory bullshit out of the way, let's get on to the real reason as to why you are reading the best shinobi book ever. You wanted to become a great ninja like yours truly Jiraiya and as the outstanding person that I am, it is my mission to make you as such. Follow what's in this and you might, just might get strong enough for me to recognize you as a somewhat decent shinobi._

_Now, let's find out what type of shinobi you are. Take the piece of chakra paper that came with this and channel some chakra into it. Unless you have freaky genetics, there will be one of five possible outcomes for this. It will turn to rubble, catch on fire, get soggy, split in half or crinkle up in a little ball._

After having read that, Naruto turned back down to the piece of chakra paper in his other hand. Thinking "Oh what the heck" he channelled chakra into the palm of his hand. The result was instant.

The paper abruptly started shrinking as it shrivelled up into a small ball into his hand. Wanting to know what this meant, Naruto went back to reading.

_Using the table above, you can find out what element you are attuned to due to the reaction on the paper. This means that there are certain things that you will find much easier to learn (your strengths) and things that are much harder to learn (your weaknesses)._

_If you want to learn more about how the elements work, turn to page 14_

_Back in the days when I was taught to be a shinobi, we learnt things much differently. Unlike the academy today where there was a one style fits all kids, the academy taught five types of taijutsu, one for every element. It proved much better results but it was costed a lot more and as such, it was only used during war time._

_Since we live in the land of fire, most of us have affinities to the Katon element. The academy taijutsu style was built around the Katon element as it would provide the best learning taijutsu for the majority of students attending. If you are someone who has a Fuuton element, well then you are pretty much fucked and you will have to learn a new fighting style._

As Naruto was reading this, he made a mental note to go back to the library so that he could find a proper book on a lighting based taijutsu form for him to use.

_Good, now that we got that out of the way and you know how to go and improve yourself as a shinobi on your own volition, we will get down to the major point of being a genin._

_If there was one sole rule that you needed to follow as a genin shinobi in terms of skills, it is that you don't need to necessarily improve what your good at. All you really need to do is improve at your flaws and make sure that there is nothing that an enemy can notice and take advantage of. Realistically, anything beyond that train of thought is getting into chunin territory and you don't need a big head developing._

_With that said, pretty much every guy reading this will have shitty chakra control. I fell into the same category as a kid; so don't fret because with hard work and determination you can become almost as good as me!_

_The first step of this chakra control exercise is tree climbing. Now I know it doesn't sound like much at the moment but just think of all the possibilities! Hehehe giggidy_

_What you want to do is lay down next to a surface (preferably a tree and channel a small, constant amount of chakra into your feet. Take your time to as you channel your chakra as you feel the grip in your feet grow. You want to make sure you have enough to hold onto the tree so that you don't lose grip but not enough to blast off of it. _

_Make no mistake you will fail unless you have some freakishly good chakra control. You will fail but this is the perfect example of an important lesson that you need to learn. You need to gather up your determination and persevere through the pain if it fails the first time round._

When he was done reading the book in his hand, Naruto thought that he might as well give this tree climbing thing a go.

PLONK

"Owww" the genin muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. Naruto had managed to take two steps walking up the tree before he fell back onto the ground. "Like the book said, practice makes perfect…" Naruto said to himself as he promised that he would get this down. He wanted to become the most powerful shinobi there ever was.

**Time skip**

5 days had passed and it was now Monday morning for Naruto Uzumaki and now he had to attend the academy to see what his team was. He honestly hoped that he didn't get either because they were really annoying. Apart from those two, he honestly didn't care who he got on his team as long as they didn't do anything to hinder his growth as a shinobi.

It was also the time that Naruto would find out who his sensei was. Thanks to using his newfound clearance levels, Naruto was able to get his hands on a copy of the famed bingo book. The genin was hoping that he could go through and possibly see if there was anything in them that he might be able to apply to himself. Not only that, but knowledge was power.

Walking in through the academy doors, Naruto noticed that there wasn't anything different apart from the fact that Mizuki was no longer apart of the teaching force. The fact that there was no one sitting next to him was just like usual, it didn't bother him as the emotional pain had dulled over time.

Strangely enough for one Iruka Umino who was in the room, he didn't have to tell the class to be quiet. It was a rare occasion for him so he took advantage of it.

"Now you will be tasked with your duties to the village. You will be split up into teams of three underneath a Jonin sensei. You will follow their orders as you complete the tasks that the village hand to you." At this point the teacher started going over the team assignments and Naruto promptly tuned out. The blonde haired boy only cared when he heard his own name.

"Team Seven consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga. Your Jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake" The moment that this was stated, a large majority of the girls in the classroom started shouting out at Iruka at how the team selection was unfair. There were also glares being sent in the direction of Hinata who just wanted to die right then and there, all of the attention that was focused on her was suffocating.

"Team eight consists of Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jonin-sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi."

Whilst there was a lot of talk going on around him, Naruto tuned himself to the outside world. He wanted to know what the plans were considering the fact that he now had Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga on his team. Why did he have two of the most prestigious clans' heirs on his team? Were they supposed to form some kind of super duper team due to all of their abilities?

Having Kakashi Hatake as their sensei only further served to make Naruto believe his theory was correct. It was not every day that you had an ex ANBU black ops legend as your Jonin-sensei. Something was certainly up.

**Three hours later**

After having been told by his sensei to just sit at your seat and wait for your sensei, none of the members that made up team sever believed that they would be waiting this long. Even Hinata, who was the type of person who only had nice bones in her body, was angry at the fact that she was being made to wait over three hours.

It was then that the sliding door to the room opened and it had everyone (admittedly only three people) inside's attention. In stepped a man with gravity defying silver hair and his headband tilted over one eye. Apart from that, there wasn't anything really all that different about him.

"My first impression of all of you is…. meh. Meet me on the roof." With that said, the man known as Kakashi Hatake vanished into thin air only leaving behind a plume of smoke.

Having heard their orders, both Naruto and Sasuke instantly got up, making their way to the roof. Albeit nervous of what was to come, Hinata quickly followed as she did not want to make a bad first impression.

When all four of them were on top of the building, the three genin turned around to their newfound sensei, waiting to hear what was next. "Okay so let's begin with some introductions."

Not sure what he really meant by that, Naruto questioned the man who would be teaching him from now on. "What do you mean?"

"You know, your likes, dislikes and dreams for the future." Kakashi said with a bit of a drawl in his voice. Let it not be said that Kakashi Hatake was a man who was easily bored.

Albeit not as well done, Sasuke Uchiha was giving off the same impression. "Why don't you give us an example." The black haired boy replied back to the man in front of him.

"Alright then, hmmm well let's see. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies, well I have lots of hobbies…" the expressions that were on the face of Kakashi's students was priceless in his opinion. The deadpan looks that were sent his way were great. The look on the face of Hinata was one that made him laugh internally.

_All he did was tell us his name. _The three genin thought to themselves as they tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Alright, Sasuke, you're next."

Sighing, the Uchiha clan heir spoke up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." The darkness that was seeping through his voice was something that everyone nearby could hear.

For the only female in the group, she was actually really nervous as she could feel the malice coming from her teammate. Hinata hoped that he didn't hold anything against the Hyuga clan because of their rivalry.

Naruto for his part was thinking that Sasuke was a stuck up asshole where the world revolved around him. The way that he carried himself and the way how he talked only emphasized this point.

_I guess that can only be expected considering all things. _Kakashi thought to himself. It was unfortunate that what happened had to happen but there was no use crying over spilt milk.

"Hinata-chan, it's now you're turn." Kakashi stated with a smile on his face, He had been briefed by Kurenai about the insecurities that she had in herself. Admittedly he didn't think that he was the best person to be her sensei but he didn't really have any other choice when the orders came from the Hokage. He would try his best to get her to come out of her shell.

"Ano, M-my n-n-name is Hinata Hyuga. I l-like pr-press-ing flowers and equality. I dislike crab, shrimp and being mean to people. My dream for the f-f-future is to beat my f-father and remove the c-c-cursed seal." It was definitely a mouthful to say for Hinata Hyuga. The shy girl had slowly but surely grown a bit of confidence when talking to her new teammates and sensei. Despite the fact that they were pretty much complete strangers to one another, she hadn't stuttered all that much.

"Nicely done Hinata-chan." The Jonin-sense stated to which a small, relieved smile appeared on the girl's face.

"Finally, we have the midget." Kakashi gave what his students would come to recognize as his eye smile.

"Fuck you! I'm not small! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet!" As Naruto said this, he stared directly at his sensei, daring him to respond. Fortunately for him, Kakashi didn't fall for the bait. "…Anyway, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I have a lot of dislikes and not many likes. I have no hobbies and my dream for the future is to become the strongest shinobi ever." There was emphasis in his voice but it wasn't as if there was any form of enthusiasm.

Sasuke looked on with impassiveness. _At least if he has a goal like that he hopefully won't slow me down all that much. _Hinata was just plain old curious. Naruto in the academy was always a bit of an enigma, actually as she thought about it, she realised that the one thing the team had in common was that they were all the loner kids at school. Maybe team loner could group together and become her first proper friends.

Kakashi, well his thoughts were slightly different. _I guess we couldn't have honestly expected much difference from Naruto considering how he grew up._

What the others didn't know was that there was a lot more that Naruto could have said. Naruto, although he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, knew that why he wanted to be the strongest shinobi in the world were borderline traitorous. He didn't want them knowing, especially a former ANBU black ops member.

"Alright, you three all have rather unique personalities. I like that. Anyway, we're going to start a mission beginning tomorrow." Unable to hide his curiosity when he heard the words from his sensei, Naruto replied with a bit of eagerness. After all, it was a chance for him to have his first mission and grow stronger as a shinobi.

"What is it!?

"It's survival training." Kakashi said with a bit more emphasis in his voice. All three of his students seemed to give him more attention the moment that he said it.

"I thought that we did all of that training in the academy?" Naruto asked as he followed up on his previous question. He really hoped that he could learn something new that would help him get stronger.

In response to that, the Jonin-sensei just started laughing. "Naruto, this isn't just any training. It is special because of the fact that; well if I say this you are going to be surprised. Out of the twenty seven graduates from the academy, only nine will pass. The other 18 will be sent back to the academy.

In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with a dropout rate of 66%." As Kakashi said this, he purposefully set the mood to make it so that he would install as much fear into his students. It was definitely working on Hinata; Naruto and Sasuke however weren't fazed in the slightest.

"That's bullshit Kakashi! There's no way in hell that you would be able to turn us back to the academy. I see what is going on here. It's not as if you got a bunch of ragtag misfits to make up the rest of the numbers…

You got the students with the most potential to become insanely strong shinobi." Before Naruto could continue speaking, he was interrupted by someone else.

"Speak for yourself." Sasuke muttered although it was loud enough for everyone to hear. It didn't come as a surprise that it was said in a condescending fashion as well.

"Fuck you ya spoilt piece of shit. If I had access to all of clan jutsus that you have then I would be ten times the shinobi that you would be asshole." Let it not be said that Naruto had a rather … colourful vocabulary. As he said this, he was staring a hole where Sasuke was sitting down.

Now the Uchiha clan heir never once thought that he was spoilt as a kid. Sure he was a clan heir but everything had been taken away from him by his older brother no less. "Shut up trash. Nobody likes you." Sasuke snarled as he hated people bringing up his childhood. Since Sasuke didn't know the full story, he didn't know how much this actually hurt Naruto.

"You better watch your back because I am going to do what Itachi should have done." Naruto said with an equal amount of venom in his voice. There was a stair off happening between Naruto and Sasuke and it didn't look as if one of them was going to back down any time soon.

All Hinata could do right now was hope that her team would make up and become friends. _If only I had the confidence to stop them from fighting._

Seeing the high amount of tension surrounding his team, Kakashi knew that he had to take action. Take action he did indeed. "Both of you drop your ego's and say you are sorry. Now!" The commanding tone of voice that the former ANBU captain used was one very similar to how he addressed his operatives.

The effect was instant. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned around and faced their sensei. Despite Naruto knowing his sensei's past job title, he was surprised to see him serious. This was more of what he had initially been expecting, not the bored.

Going back to what he was talking about before he was interrupted, Naruto spoke up. "Plus if they were going to do a test like that and weed out people who aren't ready, they would have given us some run of the mill Jonin instead of you."

Surprised that one of his genin knew who he actually was, he decided to see just how much Naruto knew. In doing so, he never denied the point that Naruto was making. "Oh really Naruto-chan, what makes you think that? For all you know, I could be that "run of the mill Jonin" as you so put it." Kakashi said with his patronizing eye smile.

Naruto could tell that he was getting baited but he didn't want to be made as an example in front of Sasuke, the humiliation would make him think that he won the argument. In the eyes of the blonde haired boy it was merely postponed. Picking out the bingo book that was in his back pocket, Naruto flipped it open to random page.

"It says here that Sasuke should be sucking your cock if he wants to get anywhere in life as a shinobi." There was shock evident in the facial expressions coming from Hinata as she couldn't believe the language that she was hearing. Since she heralded from a noble clan, she never once heard swearing around her. There was even consensus among the younger kids, main and branch both stating the same.

To hear some child who was now going to be her teammate speak so vulgarly was a complete shock to the system. The same could be said for Sasuke although he hid it much better than the Hyuga princess. He was angry though at what Naruto had said about him. He didn't want anyone thinking that he was gay.

Hearing Naruto insinuate about the sharingan in his hidden eye made Kakashi a little bit impressed. That knowledge certainly wasn't common among genin / academy students.

"Well I'll humour you since you are correct. You three specifically aren't going to be sent back to the academy. I don't have a choice as it is orders from Hokage-sama. That being said, I am going to drill the three of you so hard in teamwork that you are a perfectly oiled machine before I teach you any jutsu. I don't care if Sasuke and Naruto dislike each other. I will make you learn to work together flawlessly, am I understood?" Kakashi said as he wanted to nip in the bum anything that could possibly cause the team dynamic to fail.

Not only was Kakashi doing it for that, but he was also doing it to display an air of superiority. He didn't want to give team seven any thoughts apart from that he was their supreme leader.

There was that but more importantly over everything else, there was a new Icha Icha book that had just been released. He didn't want to waste anytime whatsoever that he could have spent reading the book doing something like testing when it could be done at a later date.

**Time skip**

"Team seven… passed." The moment that the words left the lips of Kakashi Hatake, one of, if not the most famous servant of the ANBU black ops had passed a team. Now if this was someone else with a similar mission history, this wouldn't be as big of a deal.

The fact was that Kakashi had not passed a single team despite the fact that he had had seven teams previously and failed every single one of them. The commotion and muttering that this caused was heard throughout the room full of Jonin.

"I bet it was the Uchiha that made Kakashi pass the team."

"Nah I reckon that the Hyuga clan paid Kakashi-sempai some money on the side to pass them. He'd hate to have his daughter fail."

Ignoring all of the comments that went passed, the sensei of team seven even got annoyed at the suggestions that he would somehow be bribed into training a bunch of genin students.

"Enough!" Hiruzen Sarutobi bellowed as he wanted to get this over and done with. There were honestly more important things that he had to get to and he could only do them with no one around. Not only that but he was concerned about little Naruto-kun.

Despite how much he tried to become friends with the child, he never once gained his trust. In the eyes of Naruto, the only person you could trust was yourself. It was a shame that such an upbringing fell onto the boy but it couldn't be helped. There was only so much that could be done to prevent the villagers from directing their hatred for the Kyubi his way.

There were never any direct forms of this shown his way though, ever since the decree had been made once Hiruzen saw that Naruto would not have an easy childhood, no one had dared to defy the Sandaime Hokage. That being said, it didn't stop all of the indirect and unfair treatment sent his way.

Stopping himself from going down that path, the Sandaime brought his attention back to Kakashi. "So how did they do it Kakashi-kun?" the Hokage asked with a small smile on his face.

"It was actually Naruto who got the team to pass... He called me out on the fact that since I, an ex ANBU black ops commander was given three clan heirs with the highest amount of potential out of anyone from this year; that there was no way that they were going back to the academy.

Well that and the new Icha Icha book came out today. So Hokage-sama can I be excused?" If the onlooking Jonin in the room were waiting for a climactic battle which would showcase the skills of the up and coming genin, then they were severely disappointed.

The dumbfounded expectation on the face of one Hiruzen Sarutobi was something that Kakashi giggled at. The old man too had been expecting a battle story from Kakashi. What he got was severely disappointing. "Very well then Kakashi, we will be having words though." Hiruzen said as he watched one of his best Jonin leave his office via a shunshin.

**Later**

"Thank you for all of your input on the future generation of Konoha's defenders. For those of you who are now officially Jonin-sensei, I wish you all the best in grooming your genin into becoming powerful ninjas. Dismissed." As the Sandaime Hokage gave the command, all bar one of the Jonin in the room left the room.

That one Jonin who remained was Kurenai Yuuhi, the kunoichi who was responsible for the care of Hinata Hyuga. Admittedly, she was expecting to have the girl on her team so that she could hopefully nurture some confidence into the incredibly shy young girl.

"Yes Kurenai-chan?" Hiruzen questioned with a knowing look on his face. It wasn't as if he didn't know what was coming.

"Hokage-sama, not that I doubt that Kakashi wouldn't be a good sensei for Hinata, it's just that I am not sure being on an all-male team would benefit Hinata's development as a person." Pausing to have a bit of a break, Kurenai used this time to gauge whether or not her boss thought that she was speaking out of line.

Strangely enough, she could see that he wanted her to continue with her point of view. "Hinata has had a troubled childhood as you no doubt know Hokage-sama. We know that since she is the Hyuga clan heir, there is a lot of potential for her to become a good shinobi but I think that Hinata needs a kinder hand than what Kakashi could provide; one that I could provide."

Having allowed the woman in front of him to speak her mind, it was now the Hokage's turn to speak up. "Whilst I agree that there is a great deal of potential inside of Hinata-chan, unfortunately she does not have the chance to be wrapped up in cotton wool. I know you wouldn't intentionally do it but since you have formed a rather strong emotional bond with the girl, there would be conflicts of interest in terms of preparing her for life as a shinobi." Before Kurenai could deny what the Hokage had just said, Hiruzen continued on quickly.

"I am not saying that you would give preferential treatment to Hinata over your other students Kurenai-chan but as a shinobi and not a civilian, there comes a point where you have to grow up.

As harsh as that may sound and before you think that it is harsh, look at her two teammates. Neither one of them has had an easy childhood, in fact I would say that Hinata has been the luckiest out of the three. Both Naruto and Sasuke are fine young genin despite their unjust childhoods and I believe given a bit of time, Hinata will come out of her shell. After all, if there is anything bad that happens on a mission, they do have Kakashi to bail them out of trouble.

The fact of the matter Kurenai-chan is that out of all of the female graduates from this year that we could pair up with Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata was the most talented."

As she was going over what Hiruzen had said about the upbringings of Hinata's other two teammates, it took a while for the red eyed lady to grasp what the Sandaime was hinting at.

"Ahhh, they got the Team Seven title didn't they?"

"Yes the indeed did. Despite the fact that there is no imminent threat of war approaching us, one can never be too prepared. Hopefully unlike previous generations with Itachi, Kakashi and Minato, this team seven will become a standout team like my three students instead of having only one individual achieving greatness." The Sandaime Hokage stated. He was confident that having the Uchiha and Hyuga clan heir pared up with the Kyubi jinchuuriki would promote a new age of prosperity for Konoha.

"I know Hokage-sama, the saying that the Nidaime Hokage lived by is one that applies to this situation. The needs of the many outweigh those of the few or the one. By your leave…" with the nod coming from her boss, Kurenai vanished, hoping that Kakashi would be able to nurture Hinata into a strong young woman.

Hiruzen himself could only hope that he had made the right choices when it came to team selections. He had half a mind to put the girl from a shinobi family who had great academic scores.


	2. First time out of the village

**Author's Note:**

**To clarify, this story will not have Naruto learning the shadow clone jutsu. To me, this is just a cop out for author's to use when it comes to training Naruto into a powerful shinobi. Also the fact that it has been used till the cows come home; I want to make something unique. Obviously since there are so many stories already created, there will be some things inside my story that will match up with other stories. Also, i might draw inspiration from some stories and bend it to fit into my own.**

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Team seven was still in its infancy stages. That was paramount for Kakashi to see when he watched them train. Both Naruto and Sasuke would fight over who would be the dominant one in terms of leadership. To make matters worse, they absolutely hated one another. Hinata just didn't have any confidence to try and stop the two from fighting. On one occasion she balled up the courage to ask the two of them nicely to stop fighting. The glare that she got sent her way made her go back into hiding in her coat.

It was at that time that Kakashi felt that he had to step in. It was one thing for them to fight with one another but combining to take it out on the member of the who was trying to help them was not on in his book. Forcibly making both of his male students apologize was a step in the right direction. From that moment on, both Naruto and Sasuke made sure to take all of their anger out on one another and not direct any of it onto Hinata.

Despite all of the hardships that Team Seven faced on a daily basis, Kakashi was proud to see that their teamwork as a team of three was improving. Since Sasuke was the only member of the team that had any formed of ranged attack bar shuriken and Kunai, he was delegated the role of long ranged support. Admittedly he didn't want the role as he thought it was beneath him but one snide comment from Naruto was enough to make him take the bait and become the long ranged specialist of the team. _If Itachi was good at long ranged attacks, then why can't you?_

Combining that with the fact that when he got his sharingan activated, he would become a ninjutsu powerhouse, it was enough for Sasuke to take up the role. What made things even better was that he had Hinata who always had her Byakugan on during fights so she could also use her Dojutsu to help in this department.

Speaking of said Hyuga girl, since she only had her taijutsu to work with, she was up front as one of the primary damage dealers. The same could be said about Naruto. Kakashi was confident that his style was a close combat shinobi rather than being far away from the action by the time he had some proper skills.

As the sensei of Team Seven stated, he would wait until they had flawless teamwork before he started on improving their skills individually. This was obviously motivation for both Naruto and Sasuke to work well with one another. Hinata just wanted to work well with her team for the sake of having a happy team relationship.

This did not mean that they completely negated any training that wasn't teamwork related. Naruto quickly learnt that he was the worst in the team when it came to taijutsu. It wasn't as if Naruto had sloppy taijutsu but compared to his teammates, he just wasn't up to it.

Noticing this, Naruto brainstormed on why this was. Remembering the knowledge that he had gained from the book that he got from the library, the taijutsu that he knew was inferior. Going back to the library, Naruto got another book on taijutsu; this one specifically geared to a more lightning orientated shinobi. It was slow going learning an entire new taijutsu style but Naruto was confident in that it would be for the better. This was due to the new taijutsu style he was learning felt much more comfortable rather than awkward compared to the previous one.

It was not something that Hinata or Sasuke noticed but Kakashi definitely did. It surprised him to see but it also impressed him how Naruto was taking the initiative to make himself a better shinobi.

**Later**

"Oi you old man! Give us a damn C-rank mission dammit!" the moment that the blatant statement was made, one young Hyuga girl almost had a heart attack. She was petrified for what could potentially happen to her teammate. She had no idea what kind of punishment he would be facing for using such disrespect with the Sandaime Hokage.

Sasuke was thinking similar things along the lines of Naruto getting in trouble for his outburst. Kakashi however wasn't really surprised. He knew Hiruzen was too much of a nice guy to do anything serious in terms of punishing his student.

"Sigh… If you want it that much Naruto, then I will give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection sort of mission of a certain individual…" Hiruzen was tired and just wanted to get through the day with as few hiccups along the way as possible. "I will introduce him now, his name is Tazuna."

The man on the other side of the door took this as his queue to come into the room. On first glance, the ninjas that were paid for with his good, hard earned money were less than impressive.

The best one out of the lot was a cripple who had only one eye. From there, all Tazuna's money got him was a bunch of prepubescent kids! At least one of them looked as if they were taking their career as a ninja seriously. The little girl looked as if she was going to be pushed over by the smallest gusts of wind.

The worst though was the little eight year old. How could they let some tiny little kid who looked as if he was put together by twigs become a ninja? Didn't they have a school or something to graduate from before they became a ninja?

"They all look like a bunch of super brats!" the man who was swaying a little bit stated rather loudly. Both Naruto and Sasuke gave rather heated glares towards their client. Hinata on the other hand just twiddled her index fingers and looked at the ground. "Especially the bony little midget. Is he really even a ninja? He looks like he is a toddler."

Now if there was one thing that Naruto hated people insulting him about, it was his height. There were kids at the academy years gone by that felt as if they could bully him because of the fact that he was so short. This on top of the conditioning some students had had from their parents gave him the nickname "The little monster". At the time Naruto had no idea why people called him a monster but he could see why people called him names along the lines of dwarf, midget and gnome. Because of the fact that it was something that he had no control over, it made Naruto Uzumaki very mad about the subject.

"Well you're just a drunk piece of shit who is probably the worst example for his family." _Two can definitely play at that game _thought Naruto as he instantly saw the eyes of his client harden up. The satisfaction was evident in Naruto Uzumaki's eyes.

"I am the super bridge builder Tazuna, I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge." The man stated before he left to go get even more pissed! He had to be at the gates in one hour so he had plenty of time!

"Okay team, we have one hour to go home and prepare for our mission. I expect you to be ready and at the gate waiting at 12 o'clock." With that said, Kakashi poofed away with the shunshin and left his team to make their own exits. Naruto was first as he was the one who openly showed how excited he was for this mission. Sasuke was second and Hinata was the final one to leave but not before bowing to the Hokage on the way out.

**At the gate**

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted out with enthusiasm. This was the first time that he had ever been outside of the village. He was desperate to see what the world was life outside of the cage which was Konoha's walls.

Not knowing this, Tazuna replied, still just as drunk as their previous meeting. "What are you so excited about brat?"

"Well I've never been out of the village." That was all Naruto needed to say. He didn't want to have to spend any more time with this guy than what was stated on the mission. That also included leaving talking to an absolute minimum.

Turning back to Kakashi, Tazuna said a rather snide comment that Naruto picked up on. "Am I really going to be safe with this dwarf?"

Not exactly sure how to respond to that, Kakashi replied. "I am a Jonin ninja so you don't have to worry about anything."

A few hours into their trek to the land of waves, Naruto saw a puddle in the middle of the path. It was weird considering there was no other signs of water anywhere near around. Thinking nothing of it, he continued on the journey that lay ahead of him.

Unlike his blonde haired student, Kakashi saw this and was instantly on guard as to what could potentially happen. Not a few seconds later as he walked past the puddle, two ninja popped out from it. One of them flung themselves at Kakashi and wrapped his body in the chain which connected him to his partner.

Pretending to be surprised, Kakashi looked as if he was panicking but in reality it was just a shadow clone. He had moved so fast that no one, not even the enemy ninja could see him. It was also at this time that the rest of team 7 including their client Tazuna turned around to see the scenario unfold.

Despite the fact that they had just watched their sensei die right in front of their eyes, both Naruto and Sasuke were clued enough to not freeze up. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Hinata as she was quivering in her place.

Throwing a kunai in between the chain, Sasuke managed to throw it so good that it got trapped against the tree, locking the two enemy ninjas in place.

Seeing what his teammate had done for the three of them, Naruto didn't want to let anyone down and be thought of the weak link. To do this, he rushed up to the enemy ninja who were facing the opposite direction and punched them in the back of the head. To coincide with this Sasuke launched two vicious kicks of his own the faces of the enemy ninjas.

Realising that they had to step up their game, the two missing ninjas released the chain and raised their speed to the max. They had been taken by surprise at the level of skill the Konoha genin had and weren't going to underestimate them anymore.

As they rushed past Naruto who was caught in no man's land, they raced after the drunken old man. Thankfully for the two boys, their female teammate came to the rescue. Hinata did this by activating her Dojutsu and getting in her basic stance.

Positioning herself a bit further in front of Tazuna, Hinata ducked under the swipe from the two ninjas. For her counter attack, she lashed out with both hands, one at each ninja and hit a tenketsu point in a wrist respectively. With their momentum, the two missing ninja continued on past Hinata towards their client.

Sasuke being the fastest out of them all, raced and became the last line of defence for Tazuna. Just as he was going through some hand seals, Kakashi-sensei came to the rescue and gave a devastating clothesline to both of the ninja which was powerful enough to knock them out.

_Phew _were the thoughts of relief running through the minds of Naruto and Hinata. Sasuke was slightly different as he was confident that his jutsu would have handled them, thus making Kakashi-sensei a show off. None more so were relieved than Tazuna though.

"Nice job Naruto and Sasuke reacting fast and drawing attention away from the client. Hinata you overcame your slight scare and fought bravely." The smiles from hearing the praise were on all three genin, Hinata was feeling content about that the most.

"Now Tazuna-san, we need to have a talk." Kakashi said as he finished tying up the enemy ninja in front of him. All three of his students were interested to find out what was going to happen next. In conjunction with this, Naruto was looking through his copy of the bingo book to see if he could find out who the shinobi were.

"…How did you read our movements?" one of the tied ninjas stated.

"On a bright day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's never going to be a puddle." Kakashi replied in a bored fashion. Naruto when he heard this was kicking himself for not coming to the same conclusion as Kakashi.

Irritated when he heard this, Tazuna spoke out in anger. "If you knew this, then why did you let the brats fight?"

"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly but there was something that I needed to find out. I needed to find out who they were after. Admittedly I thought they were after one of my high profiled genin but that was not the case."

Curious as to what the masked shinobi was getting at, Tazuna couldn't help but respond. Why, whad'ya mean?"

"Sigh… meaning they were after one of us. We didn't know there were other ninjas after you. Our mission was simply to protect you from either bandits or thieves. This has now become at least a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be a simple mission until you completed the bridge. If it was known that you there were shinobi after you, this mission would have increased in rank thus costing more money.

I am sure that you had a reason but it causes problems when you lie about the mission. We are now operating out of mission parameters." Kakashi declared and there was a cold sweat that ran down the back of Tazuna's neck. He knew he was caught and he didn't know what he was going to do to get out of this situation unless he proceeded to make a sob story.

"I have half a mind to cancel this…"

Before Kakashi could finish what he was about to say, he was interrupted by Tazuna went off on a speech about how his family would forever resent the hidden leaf village and turn anyone considering hiring them to Kirigakure.

"That's it! I have had enough. I don't care what you bullshit story you want us to believe but I don't care! This is my first proper mission and up until now, team seven has never failed a mission. I don't want to let this one be the first so I say we get back on the mission and get this guy home so that he could build his bridge." Naruto declared. There was too much riding on this. He didn't want to be known as a failure as a shinobi. He had been working his whole life for this and he had put in too much effort for anything bad to be put against his name.

This was a thought that both Sasuke and Hinata agreed with. They didn't want to dishonour their respective clan's by failing their first C-rank mission. Neither of the two wanted to be known as people who throw in the towel when the going gets tough. Hinata had been that type of person all of her life and she wanted to change.

"Thank you so much little kid! You don't know how much this means to me."

"Whatever you drunkard. I'm not doing this for you. I am doing it for myself and you just happen to benefit from it."

**On the boat**

"I… there is something that I want to talk to you about." Tazuna said rather out of the blue. Giving his attention to the man, the silver haired man was curious as to what the bridge builder was going to say. "It's about this mission, you're right, this job is most likely outside of your duties. As it turns out, there is a super dangerous man who is after my life."

Deciding not to comment on the man's liberal use of the word "super", Kakashi replied. "Continue on…"

"You've probably heard his name before, but his name is Gatou the wealthy shipping tycoon."

That definitely did take Kakashi by surprise as he was trying to work out why one of the world's richest men was after his client's life. "Officially, Gatou runs a large shipping company but on the down low he is a sex slave and drug trafficker. He uses ninjas and bandits to take over businesses and countries.

It was about a year ago when he set his sights on us. Through violence and money, he quickly control of our whole entire country's shipping industry. Since he has control over everything, the only thing that he has to fear is the completion of the bridge." Tazuna lectured, giving an insight into how bad his predicament was to the foreign shinobi.

"I see, so since you're building the bridge, you are in the way and Gatou hired the ninjas to take out the competition." Sasuke deduced from what he had been told. Kakashi was impressed at this and knew he had the best students that he could ask for.

"What I want to know was why you lied about the mission." Naruto stated out in the open. Hinata also thought the same but she wasn't confident enough to ask the question and have all of the attention on her.

"Wave country is super poor you see. Even the feudal lord has no money. Of course we don't have much money either. We definitely don't have enough to pay for an expensive B-rank mission."

"Well Konoha will be in discussion at the end of the mission to discuss a payment plan for when this mission is over. Once Gatou takes over and your economy you will be expected to pay the mission rate with some interest.

**On land**

After having gotten off the boat, Team Seven mentally prepared themselves for any possible outcome. Hearing something rustle in the bushes, Naruto flung a kunai at the area. Everyone turned to see what he had done and was curious to see if he had hit something. Deciding to check it out, Hinata used her Byakugan to see what it was.

Instantly, she gasped and ran over to the area opened up the bush and picked up the scared little rabbit that had almost been killed by the kunai.

"Oh you poor thing." Hinata consoled with the rabbit. Like last time, the genin didn't think anything of the rabbit thinking, it was just a standard wild rabbit. They should have realised the ease that it took to being petted by Hinata as well as the fact that it was the wrong colour.

It was here where were the experience of Kakashi Hatake shone through and proved why he was considered one of the best ninjas that Konoha had to offer.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted out to his team as he brought Tazuna down to the ground. Thankfully they also listened to the commanding officer. Good thing they did as they was a massive sword that just barely flew over their prone bodies.

When they got up and looked at what it was that had been thrown at them, they all gasped at the fact that the sword was massive! The fact that a fully grown man was capable of standing on top of it only served to prove this fact even more.

"Well well well, if it isn't the missing nin from Kirigakure known as Zabuza Momochi. Everybody get back. This ninja is on a completely different level to those two your fought before. He is my opponent." Kakashi stated to his students in the same tone of voice that he used during his tenure as an ANBU captain. It immediately got his students to fall in line and not do anything other than what he said.

"Hmm, Sharingan Kakashi, sorry but the old man is mine."

That was all that Kakashi was willing to take. He had his students as well as the client to protect. Lifting up his headband, it revealed the sharingan eye that had been given to him by Obito Uchiha. "Surround and protect Tazuna-san."

Sasuke wanted to help out and it took him a little bit longer than normal to get into position. "Hurry up Sasuke-teme, this guy is on the same level as Kakashi and your brother. We have no chance of fighting him." Naruto called out to which only served to draw the ire of the Uchiha. The hidden insinuation that he was no chance in fighting his elder brother was something he didn't like or want to hear.

Naruto honestly didn't care about this one bit as he had to thank the extra time and memorize the strongest shinobi in the bingo book. It definitely helped out in situations like this where he was able to know when to back off.

"Ahhh, I already get to see the famous sharingan eye. I'm honoured. I have to kill the old man but it seems Kakashi that I have to kill you first!" from the second he finished speaking, Zabuza used his infamous **Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu (Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu) **

_He'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi… when he was a member of the hidden mist village, he was known as an expert in silent killing._

" Eight points, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck, brain. The question is just how will I kill you?" As the former ninja from the hidden mist village said this, he was producing a massive amount of killing intent.

It was something that neither any of the genin students had felt before. Since it was coming from someone who was so good at using it, they were in for a real shock. "Don't worry guys, I will protect you with my life." Despite Kakashi trying to alleviate the tension in the air, he only slightly did so.

Almost instantly, the man with the massive sword appeared right in the middle of the triangle formation that team seven was using to protect their client. Luckily their sensei was fast enough to get there in time and stab Zabuza with a kunai. This subsequently revealed the fact that it was not the real Zabuza. Instead it was a water clone.

The exact same thing could be said about Kakashi though when Zabuza retaliated with swinging his sword. The silver haired man popped and it turned out he was only a water clone as well. The powers of the sharingan were on display for everyone to see.

"It's over!" Kakashi Hatake called out as he was standing behind the missing ninja from Kirigakure with a kunai right at his throat.

"Haha, you don't get it. There is no way that you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations but that was impressive of you." The moment that Zabuza said this, Kakashi injected his kunai into the body. As it turned out, said body was made up purely of water.

To coincide with this, the real Zabuza sprouted out of the ground and swung with his sword. Thanks to the properties of the sharingan, Kakashi was able to duck underneath the swinging blade. Unfortunately for his sake, he wasn't able to dodge a kick to the abdomen.

The kick was much more powerful than what Kakashi expected and thanks to his years of experience, he could already tell that one of his ribs was bruised. Putting chakra into his hands, Kakashi quickly got up to get out of the water.

Beating him to it though was Zabuza. Going through hand seals at a rapid rate, he quickly said the name of the jutsu that he was casting. "**Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu)**" Instantly, from the moment that that was casted, the water around Kakashi suddenly got a lot heavier. It formed a sphere around him to the point where he was no longer able to move.

It was only then when he realised Kakashi realised just how much danger he was in. none of his students even had anywhere enough skill to break the prison that he was in, let alone fight Zabuza. Having an epiphany, Kakashi promised himself that if he ever got out of this situation with his students lives still intact, he would drill his students into the ground so that they were strong enough to overcome situations like this.

Sasuke, seeing the danger they were in as well, gathered up as much chakra as he possibly could. In all honesty, he didn't really expect for this to kill Zabuza but it was the only thing that he had. "**Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu.)**" He called out as he unleashed his best jutsu.

Since he was the one who taught Haku how to use one hand jutsus, it was no surprise whatsoever when Zabuza revealed to Team Seven that he could also do them. The look of surprise and fear in their eyes was something that the missing nin from Kirigakure thrived upon.

Still, Zabuza was impressed by the fact that a mere genin could create something of such size. What he forgot to realise was that when he used his one remaining hand for a jutsu to counteract the fireball, it loosened his control on the prison that was holding Kakashi at bay.

The moment that he felt the slight loosening of the hold on him, the former ANBU black ops commander opened up the first of the eight celestial gates. The power boost that this gave him was enough to move freely inside the sphere of water. Grabbing a kunai out of his pocket, Kakashi stabbed it as hard as he could into the outstretched hand of Zabuza. The wound that this caused made the water around Kakashi instantly start going a deeper shade of blue.

Releasing his hold on the prison holding Kakashi at bay when he felt the pain, Zabuza jumped back instantly to survey the damage done to his hand. Angered by what had happened, he started going through the hand seals albeit at a slower pace than normal thanks to the injury that he had suffered.

In contrast to this, Kakashi was going through them just as fast thanks to his ninjutsu prowess as well as his implanted sharingan eye. "**Suiton: Suiryūdan no jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!)**" the two of them called out as they unleashed high powered water style ninjutsu at one another.

The resulting after math of the jutsus which all of team seven was awed by was both Kakashi and Zabuza fighting with weapons in hand. The silver haired man had his trusty kunai whilst the missing nin had the famed Kubikiribocho in his hands.

_My movements… he's _"reading them." Kakashi stated as he finished of saying what was going through the mind of Zabuza Momochi. _What? Is he reading my mind? Damn _"that freaky eye is pissing me off!" it was then that Zabuza saw an image of himself behind Kakashi and it only took a split second to realise that this was a genjutsu. By that point though, it was already too late. Kakashi had instead taken the initiative to finish the rest of the hand seals and unleash the jutsu of the demon of the mist. "**Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu (Water style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!)**"

The moment that this was finished, a massive torrent of water formed up from the lake that Kakashi was standing on. Rising rapidly, it formed a massive wave and then it crashed down heavily onto the former Kirigakure ninja. The aftermath of such an attack was Zabuza lying washed up on shore unable to move due to the pain that he was in. to make sure off the victory, Kakashi embedded a few kunai into him.

Just as Kakashi was about to put the final nail in the coffin when it came to the life of Zabuza Momochi, someone else beat him to it. Looking to see where the attack came from, Kakashi and the rest of his team noticed a person in a weird getup. It was only the team leader who realised that it was a member of the mist's hunter ninja squad.

"Thank you very much, I have been waiting to kill Zabuza-san for a very long time."

"That mask… you're a member of the Kirigakure hunter ninja squad aren't you?" Kakashi replied to the question.

"Yes, that's impressive. Anyway, I must be on my way." The hunter ninja said and then proceeded to lift the body onto his shoulders and teleport away. It happened so fast that there was nothing that anyone on team seven could do about it.

As soon as the imminent threat of danger was lifted, Kakashi proceeded to fall to the ground and become unconscious. This was something that none of the genin around was expecting and it made them panic. Surprisingly, it was Hinata who was the first to react in the right way. She turned on her Dojutsu and tried to deduce what was wrong with him.

With an audible sigh that everyone around her could hear, they all turned their attention to her. "A-ano, K-k-Kakashi-se-sensei is suff-fering from chakra exhaustion. He will be f-fine if he gets some rest." Gradually growing in confidence as she was speaking, having everyone's attention on her was not as big of a deal as she made it out to be.

Taking command of the situation, Naruto did his best to think of the best course of action. "Well Sasuke, since you used heaps of chakra, you aren't going to be that great when it comes to another fight so you should carry Kakashi. Hinata, we need you to use your Byakugan all the time to make sure that nothing sneaks up on us."

Sasuke, admittedly didn't want to be the person having carry Kakashi because he wanted to fight. Feeling the near emptiness of his chakra reserves though made Sasuke know that he had to do it as it was the best move for the team. This was a time to throw away his pride for the sake of the team and the mission.


	3. Calm before the storm

Thankfully for Team Seven, there were no more enemies on the path to Tazuna's house from where they left off. None were more relieved at this than Tazuna himself. He had seen enough crazy ninja action for one day. With Kakashi resting in bed and eating some food, the bridge builder was hoping that the elder ninja would be able to quickly recover his strength. Tazuna didn't exactly put all of his faith into the three genin despite them being able to defeat the demon brothers.

He wanted Kakashi-sensei to be able to fight at 100% before he was fully confident that he was not going to die. There was always the possibility of Gatou sending another shinobi to do what Zabuza failed to do. It was then that the thoughts of the old man were broken by his daughter who had just come into the room.

"Are you alright sensei?" Tsunami asked with concern in her voice. In her eyes he was really the only one capable of defending her father. It was not as if she didn't have faith in the rest of Team Seven, it was just that she saw them as kids; how much difference was there really from a civilian child and a ninja child at the same age? Well it was safe to say that Tsunami had never heard of Itachi Uchiha.

It took a little bit of time before Kakashi was able to get up on his haunches and respond. "Urgh… I'm fine, I just won't be able to move for about a week and a half or so."

"Well we defeated that super strong ninja this time, we should be safe for a while!" Tazuna stated with enthusiasm. The battle he had witnessed just recently was something that he had never seen before. Sadly for him, everyone ignored him.

"K-Kakashi-s-sensei, who was that m-masked n-ninja?" Hinata questioned with curiosity evident in her voice. The familiarity that the girl had with her team was slowly allowing her to come out of her shell a bit. Kakashi smiled when he heard a considerably less amount of stuttering compared to when he first met the girl.

"That's the mask worn by the hidden Mist village's special hunter ninja team. They are also known as body erasers. Their duty is to complete erase the body without a trace.

A ninjas body has within it secrets of the village. Something which I am sure you two in particular know all too well about. The body of a ninja can reveal important information so that is why they kill and then dispose of the body. Hunter ninja protect the information from getting into the wrong hands. They are the specialists that guard their village's secrets." When Kakashi finished his lecture, none were paying more attention than the Uchiha clan heir.

_So those are the type of ninjas that are after my brother. I should become one of them so it can me to avenge the clan and not some random!_

Everyone though was shocked, even Tsunami when they saw Kakashi rapidly bolt up from his lying down position. Considering the fact that he wasn't supposed to be moving, it was a real feet. "Hunter ninja generally always dispose of the body on sight."

"Wait a minute then cause the hunter ninja we saw disappeared with the body and didn't do that." Naruto said as he voiced all of the thoughts of Team Seven and Tazuna.

"Yeah… and the weapon used to kill him were senbon needles." That was all that was needed from Kakashi to allow Sasuke to coin in to what his sensei was thinking.

"What's so bad about those damn needles?" The oldest man in the room questioned as he had no idea what was going on. All this damn ninja business was getting to his head.

"Whilst they can be used to kill people, those senbon needles can also be used to put someone in a false death state if you know enough about the human body.

First, he carried away the body of the much heavier body of Zabuza and secondly, he used a weapon which has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that his motive was not to kill him but actually save him. We can't ignore that possibility." Kakashi said as not only was he saying this for Tazuna, but he was saying it so that his students could learn from the situation.

"Aren't you overthinking all of this though?" Tazuna said as he couldn't help but think of all the new information and what it meant.

"No. One of the rules that all shinobi who are worth their rank live by a saying. _Prepare for the worst whilst hoping for the best_. Not only that, but there is also the fact that Gatou might hire someone else who is just as strong as Zabuza if not stronger. We have no choice but to train even if nothing ever eventuates." Kakashi stated to which Tazuna eventually nodded. He didn't want anything bad to happen to either his family or his bridge.

"But s-sensei, w-what do you m-mean pre-pairing? You can b-barely move as it is." The only female member of Team Seven questioned as she didn't want her sensei to suffer any more injuries since he had been the one to protect them all against a strong ninja.

"Well Hinata-chan, I never said that it was me who was going to be preparing now did I?" the little blush on her face was cute in his eyes. So was the way how she twiddled her fingers and hid back underneath her jacket.

"That sounds good." Naruto said. He hoped that since they were in more of a life and death situation that Kakashi would teach him something better than just team work.

"That doesn't sound good." The moment that a new voice entered the room, everyone turned around to see who it was. To their surprise it was a kid probably about six or seven years old.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto questioned. Let it not be said that he didn't exactly have the best of manners.

"Inari, please say hello to these people. These are the ninjas who protected grandpa." The boy who had a bucket hat on his head nodded albeit a bit slower than what Tsunami would have hoped for.

"Mom, they're just going to die." The boy blandly stated. This of course was not well received by anyone in the room. Especially Tsunami.

"Inari!" Tsunami admonished as the way her son was treating their guests was definitely not on!

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto couldn't help but in to the conversation. He had struggled so hard to get to where he was. He didn't want to be told by some snot nosed brat that he was going to die when there was nothing to do about it.

With Inari ignoring Naruto, it only served to further piss the blonde haired boy off even more. "There is no way that you can win against Gatou." As if it was something that he said to himself, the youngest person in the room went back to his bedroom and stared at the ocean. Naruto was going to say something but unfortunately the boy turned his back on him and Naruto didn't want to make a massive scene. He was in someone else's home and he had some manners after all.

"If you don't want to die then you should leave." The last snide comment that the young kid said was enough to make Naruto fume in anger. His face had visibly changed colour.

Taking a momentary leap of faith, Hinata placed her hand on the shoulder of Naruto. "T-t-take a d-deep b-breath Na-ruto-kun." She said and Naruto listened. Despite the fact that he wasn't paying any attention, the amount of confidence that this instilled into Hinata was immense. When one of her teammates was angry and she had the courage to speak up, well it was a massive step in the right direction for the Hyuga clan heir.

**The next day**

After finally having had enough time to properly recover from their fight against Zabuza, it was now time for Team Seven to start their training. Both Naruto and Hinata the most eager to do this as they both felt that they had done nothing in the previous fight. They wanted to make sure that they didn't feel completely helpless like they did before again.

Not only that, but Kakashi had recovered enough so that he could now walk around with the help of crutches. That was now why Team Seven found themselves inside a miniature forest. Since this was his first time ever teaching someone who wasn't already at least a chunin, Kakashi gave his students a lecture on the fundamentals of what it took to use chakra properly.

What he did next was throw three kunai, one for each student at the ground for them to mark their progress with the tree climbing.

All three of his students surprised him when it came to how good they were with the tree climbing exercise. Naruto first and foremost; Kakashi honestly didn't expect Naruto to already know how to do the tree walking exercise comfortably. He was in for a massive surprise when he saw his blonde student calmly walk up the face of the tree.

Not only was Kakashi impressed at this but so was Sasuke. He wondered where the hell Naruto had learnt such a thing already when he hadn't! Had Kakashi been giving him private lessons on the side whilst neglecting him? Sasuke decided to use this as motivation to get better quicker.

Hinata though was no surprise. Since she was a member of the Hyuga clan, if there was anyone out of the three who extra chakra control exercises, then it would be Hinata. Not only that but she had an entire clan of living people at her disposal to help her training.

"Well it seems that the rookie isn't so special know something that he does it." It was more of a statement that a question from Kakashi but it served its purpose of getting Sasuke angrier to make him train more effectively. That and he liked poking fun at his students.

"Since both of you know how to do that already, I guess that means that Hinata and Naruto will be coming with me for the next level of training." Sasuke had a thick skin but when he heard this it unnerved him so much that there was a sneer on his face. He knew that he had to get this training done quickly so that he wouldn't miss out on anything that was being taught to Naruto and Hinata. There was no way he was going to let them catch up to him.

**With Hinata and Naruto**

"Okay so since you two already know tree walking, I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you at least know the basics of water walking?" Kakashi went out on a limb when he said this. To this he got a nod from both of his students.

"Well can you two please show me how proficient you are at it." When they heard the question from their sensei, both Hinata and Naruto nodded. The two of them both then proceeded to walk out onto the water as if it was land they were walking on.

Once again, Kakashi was immensely surprised with Naruto in terms of how good his chakra control was at the moment. He honestly didn't expect it to be this good. It showed just how much he put into his training. Kakashi told himself that he wanted to help his sensei's son become the shinobi he knew he could be.

Not only that, but Kakashi was also moderately impressed with how much chakra control that Hinata had. Despite it being known that Hyuga clansmen and women had high control over their chakra, it was no small feet for a freshly minted genin to be able to walk on water so easily.

"Alright then, since you two can walk on water easily, we will progress onto the next part of your training." As he said this, the silver haired man was confident that neither of them had started on what he was going to start them on next.

"As I hit Zabuza in the hand which he uses his sword from, it will take him a little bit longer than normal to recover to one hundred percent. What this means is that you two have enough time to start learning something new which you can add to your arsenal." Kakashi said to his students. Both of them nodded as they were eager to find out what they going to be learning next.

"With both of you being close range fighters, there are eventually going to be some situations where you are going to need to use something long ranged." After getting a nod of the heads and seeing that they were giving him the upmost of attention, Kakashi continued on with what he was saying.

"Learning something that is long ranged based would take too much time if you were going to go into something like say Fuuinjutsu or genjutsu. Ninjutsu on the other hand since you are used to using the three academy jutsu will be easier for the two of you two grasp in such a short period of time." Naruto definitely liked what he heard coming from his sensei. The chance to learn new jutsu was something that he long looked for. During his time studying, Naruto never once found anything on elemental ninjutsu as it required a chunin security clearance.

"Of course you won't get anywhere near mastering an element in such a short space of time but you will have enough time to learn a jutsu, possibly even two from your element." Kakashi stated to which both Naruto and Hinata nodded.

Pulling out two pieces of paper from his flak jacket, Kakashi extended them to his two students. "Now channel some chakra into these as it will show you what affinity you have and as such which jutsus will be easier for you to learn." Despite the fact that he already knew what he was a lightning orientated shinobi, Naruto also knew that over time, once could develop less powerful secondary affinities. He wanted to see whether or not he had another one.

Being the first person to channel chakra into the paper, Naruto was not surprised when he saw that it crumpled into a little ball. Admittedly, he was a little disappointed when he saw that there was nothing else happening to the paper.

"Lighting affinity huh? Well that's lucky as I am also someone who has the same thing." Hearing that, Naruto had a massive smirk on his face. Sure he had read the bingo book profile on his sensei which had a move called the chidori but it said nothing along the lines of what type of jutsu it was.

Seeing that her teammate had done what was asked of him, Hinata didn't want to be left behind. She didn't want to be the one who got carried by her two teammates during the missions. Channelling her chakra into the paper, the little girl watched with wide eyes as the paper started to catch on fire. Dropping the paper immediately and letting out a small shriek, Hinata blushed immensely in embarrassment at what had just happened.

Naruto could hold back his snicker at the scene that had just unfolded in front of him. "Oh, shy little Hinata-chan has fire as her affinity. I never would have expected for that to happen. I was expecting an earth one like practically every other member of the Hyuga clan."

"Is t-that a bad thing s-sensei?" hearing the fact that the stutter of Hinata was slowly growing away was something that made Kakashi smile. He didn't comment on it though as he didn't want to possibly make the girl regress back into her former self.

"No it's not at all Hinata-chan." Kakashi said as he didn't want to second guess herself as he knew she had some serious Stockholm syndrome going on. "It just means that you are going to be a different shinobi compared to the standard Hyuga shinobi mould. I reckon some uniqueness would do them the world of good." Kakashi said with his eyes smile. The smile that he got in return was one that made him happy that he finally became a genin sensei. Seeing the trust that they had in him was something that he had never felt before. To him, these were the types of things that made being a parental figure all worth it.

"Anyway, first thing is first, you two have to get a feel of converting your chakra into elemental chakra before we can start learning a new jutsu." As he did this, Kakashi pulled out a scroll from his pocket. _How many of those damned things does he have? _Naruto silently wondered to himself.

Not knowing what Kakashi-sense was going to pull out from his scroll, Hinata was confused when all she saw was a lighter and a balloon. "Ano sensei, w-what are t-they for?"

"The lighter is for you Hinata-chan although if you start using it for anything other than training, your father is going to kill me!" The gross amount of exaggeration was enough to bring a giggle and a nod to the face of the Hyuga heiress.

"And the balloon… well that is for cute little Naruto-kun here." Kakashi said with his eye smile. The blonde haired student in return gave his sensei a glare in return. He didn't say anything more than that though as he didn't want Kakashi to change his mind on training him. He of course knew all too well about what happens when you get your hopes up too soon and then they get crushed. Naruto couldn't help but get excited though.

There was the reality that Kakashi was only teaching him these things because of the fact that he was the Kyubi jinchuuriki and Konoha needed its weapon to be as strong as it possibly could be. There was hope that Kakashi was doing this because he was a nice person but Naruto was never going to discount the other possibility.

"Now Naruto-chan here, what you have to do is rub the balloon once it is full of air along your skin. This will create static electricity. From there you want to channel your chakra into it so you can get a feel for how it works and how it moves." Nodding to confirm that he understood the what he was supposed to do from his sensei, Naruto proceeded to blow up the balloon.

"For Hinata-chan, yours is a little different as you won't be feeling the elemental chakra inside your body. Instead you will turn on the lighter and then channel your chakra into the flame. Make sure to be very careful as you don't want the lighter to explode and damage your cute face." As he said this, Kakashi gave his only female student one of his pretty much trademarked eye smiles.

There was a bit of nervousness on the face of Hinata but that was quickly overcome with her determination as she saw Naruto already having a go at his training.

Deciding that Naruto and Hinata had enough to start practising by themselves, the sensei of Team Seven went to go see how Sasuke was doing. Due to the crutches, it took him a lot longer than what it normally would to move about.

**With Sasuke**

The black haired boy was slowly taking steps up the tree. Despite what Kakashi was saying when it came to getting higher if you have a run up, he thought that it was better for getting the hang of it by going slower and concentrating on each step. Of course it was an unsaid bonus that there was less of a fall doing it that way.

Since he had never done anything like this before, he was only able to get three consecutive steps before he found himself losing his balance. His breathing was a little bit heavier than normal from the cold wind but apart from that, he wasn't too affected from the training. That being said he was only forty five minutes into it and he still had all day to go.

It was then that his sensei came into his field of vision "Slacking off I see." Kakashi stated with his patented eye smile. He of course knew that it wasn't the case but he just liked to tease his genin students.

"Get lost Kakashi-_san_." Both the tone and the usage of words that indicated Sasuke did not want to talk to his Jonin-sensei. Unlike his other male teammate, Sasuke knew not to use curse words as it was unbecoming of an Uchiha clansmen let alone the heir of said clan. Both his father and mother would be ashamed of him if he resorted to such a thing.

Hurt by the way that his student had addressed him in such an unfamiliar way; Sasuke had definitely gotten his point across that he didn't like the way that he was getting treated. "And here I thought that me giving you some advice on getting this down quicker was something that you would be interested in."

The moment that he heard that, Sasuke instantly turned to face his sensei. "Go on…" The Uchiha clan heir stated.

"Well I'm not sure if you noticed but Hinata has much better chakra control than both you and Naruto combined because she has smaller chakra reserves. The rule is the smaller amount of chakra you have, the better control you have." It wasn't something that he liked to be reminded of. The plus side to that though was that he had larger his two teammates. At least, he thought that he did.

"So what can I do? There's nothing that I can do about having large chakra reserves."

"Just use a chakra intensive jutsu and leave it so that you have twenty five percent chakra remaining. This will force your body to adapt and give you an amount that is easier for you to control." After listening to the advice from his sensei, the Uchiha child took the initiative to use his most chakra intensive jutsu.

Watching his student who had obtained the rank of rookie of the year go through his Uchiha trademarked jutsu, Kakashi noticed something that any seasoned veteran of elemental ninjutsu would see. Allowing Sasuke the time to catch his breath, Kakashi spoke up. "So how long has it taken for you to learn that jutsu Sasuke-chan?"

Not really sure why this was relevant to anything, Sasuke indulged his sensei. It did however bring up memories of the fact that pretty much everyone in his family got it faster than what he did which was a major sore point for him. "It took me five years to get it this good."

"Yes, it is obvious that it doesn't come as naturally to you as opposed to some other members of your clan." Kakashi said. As he did this, he brought his hand away from one of his crutches and pulled out a piece of chakra paper.

Infuriated by the fact that his sensei was suggesting that he was one of the weaker shinobi compared to previous clansmen, Sasuke retaliated back. "What the heck do you mean by that!?" Sasuke yelled at his sensei.

Unperturbed by the anger inside the voice of his student, Kakashi extended the hand with the chakra paper out in front of him. "Here take this."

Once again, Sasuke had no idea what was going through the mind of his Jonin-sensei. He was finally getting training to make him into a stronger shinobi capable of defeating Itachi so he decided that he might as well see what his sensei was getting at.

"This here is chakra paper and when you channel some chakra into it, it will show you want elemental nature you are geared towards. This will also state which jutsus will be easier and harder for you to respectively learn." Listening to the information presented to him, Sasuke was a little bit confused.

"But Kakashi-sensei, the Uchiha clan is known for possessing an elemental affinity for Katon ninjutsus."

"That is true Sasuke however there were a quite a lot of cases where an Uchiha didn't have Katon as their primary element. Seeing the difficulty and awkwardness that you had when it came to learning the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)**, I think it is safe to assume that your main element is either Fuuton or Suiton."

When Kakashi finished speaking, Sasuke decided to test the theory of his sensei out. After all, what was the worst that could happen? True to his sensei's prediction, Sasuke's main elemental affinity was not fire. This was proven true when the paper was split in half. The interesting thing though was that there was a bit of smoke coming from the two separate pieces of paper in his hand.

Analysing the new information given to him, the silver haired man gave a mini lecture to his student. "It seems my hunch was correct. Your primary affinity is wind ninjutsu and since you have been practicing for such a long time, you have developed a very minor affinity to fire ninjutsu."

_I guess this is the reason as to why I was having trouble learning it. Well now that I know this I guess that when I get home I can start studying something new. _Despite wanting to learn about wind ninjutsu, Sasuke knew that it would be better in the long run to do the chakra control exercises first.

"Wow it seems all three of you have offensive elements." Kakashi said out loud which broke Sasuke out of his revere. Curious as to what elements his two teammates had, Sasuke asked the question.

"Well Naruto has a lighting elemental affinity and cute little Hinata-chan has a fire affinity."

Due to paying attention in classes unlike Kiba who was always playing pranks, Sasuke knew that the fire element was one that would work well with both of the other elements that the team possessed. No doubt they would eventually get to the point where they would be combining to make drastically more powerful jutsus.

With all that information, Sasuke knew that he had to go back and do his tree walking training to get it done so he could move onto something else.

**Later**

After a hard days training for all three of his students, Kakashi was not surprised at all to see them ploughing through the food on offer to them. Naruto was the one who had surprised Tsunami the most as he was the one who had the biggest appetite.

Both Hinata and Sasuke had manners of impeccable quality which surprised both of the wave country adults as the two children had better manners than what they themselves had. Naruto on the other hand, well it was safe to say that his weren't exactly at the same standard.

"Ano, there seems to be s-someone m-missing in the picture on the wall." Hinata quietly said. The moment that she said this, she knew that she had said something wrong. This was evident by the fact that everyone bowed their heads and looked at the ground.

Eventually, it was Tsunami who spoke up first, breaking the silence. "He was my husband."

Deciding to continue on from where his daughter left off. "That man was the hero of the city." Hearing those words from his grandfather, well it was all that Inari could take as he got up from the table, tears in his eyes and headed for his bedroom where he could stare at the ocean.

Angered by the state her son was in, Tsunami rapidly turned her head around to face her father. "What have I told you? Don't bring him up in front of Inari father, you know how he gets." With a sigh, she got up from her chair at the table so that she could go and comfort her son.

With a saddened look on his face, Tazuna then went on to talk about the life of Kaiza and how he was the village's hope against Gatou. By the end of the story, it was no real surprise that Hinata was crying at the tragic tale.

From that moment on, there was a tense feeling going on around the household of Tsunami. It was clear by the facial expressions on the faces of Naruto and Sasuke that the little kid's snide comments were wearing thin on them. Wisely, nothing more was said after that as Team Seven went to bed.

The next day wasn't much better in terms of the mood around the house. Inari was still going around the house moping in sorrows about how hard his life was. Hinata was the most considerate one to the boy's situation but neither Naruto nor Sasuke could give a rat's arse. The two of them had both been through worse upbringings and they came through it fine.

With everyone sitting at the dinner table, resting after the food that tsunami had provided, Inari finally snapped and unleashed all of his anger at Naruto. "Why do you guys bother to try so hard? No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gato's men! No matter what claims you make or how hard you work, when facing the strong, the weak only end up getting killed."

"Whatever kid, I'm not like you." Naruto disinterestedly stated. Everyone else in the room knew that this was not the right thing to say as they knew it would make Inari go off at him even more. He even had his eyes closed during everything which made Inari really mad.

"I'd hate to be like you. You don't know anything about this country or the struggles that it has been through. What the hell do you know about me? I'm different from you. You are always not caring about anything but you don't know how hard life can actually be!" The little kid shouted right into the face of Naruto.

Said blonde haired boy was still faced down with his head lying on his forearms. The only visible change was the hardening of the facial features on his face. "Are you just going to sit there and ignore me huh?" The bucket hat wearing kid shouted.

Lifting his head up and giving his worst stare at the kid in front of him. Unintentionally, he let out a little bit of killing intent scaring everyone in the room bar Kakashi and Sasuke. "So you think that it's okay for you to pose as the child of tragedy and cry all day like a little bitch? Just keep crying like that you pathetic piece of shit.

You think that you are the only person who has had a tough upbringing? Frankly, in my eyes you don't even know the meaning of hardship. So what, you your father died? At least you had a father." There was a hitch in the voice of Naruto as he repressed a painful memory about his own past.

"Your childhood isn't even that bad in the grand scheme of things. Have you had a label placed on you from birth that has controlled your whole entire life? Have you had a whole entire city look at you with disdain with them wishing that you necked yourself from the day you were born? Have you had to watch your older brother kill your entire family right in front of you?" the moment that he heard his teammate mention one of his not so happy moments, Sasuke instantly glared at Naruto.

Not concerned with the look that he was getting, Naruto was frustrated enough that walked out of the house. His plan was to train with the anger being his extra added motivation for tonight.

**The next morning**

Haku was walking through the forest surrounding the nearby area of his base. It was then that he noticed someone familiar. There was none other than the blonde haired kid from the enemy ninja team. Immediately getting into a defensive position when he saw him, Haku waited to see if there was anyone else nearby.

After a few minutes, he realised that there was no one around. Going closer to the boy, Haku realised that Naruto was sleeping. Finding out this, she went over to the prone body of Naruto with a kunai in his hand. In the end though, Haku knew that he couldn't go through with it and kill the boy.

"You will catch a cold sleeping out like this." Haku stated as she gently shook the boy awake. As he was waking up, Naruto, on instinct picked out a kunai from his pocket. Seeing this, Haku pretended to scramble back a few feet with a scared expression on her face.

"Oh, sorry about that." The blonde haired boy said as he scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face. There was a slight blush on his face as the girl in front of him looked very cute and pretty "By the way, what are you doing?"

With a disarming smile on his face, Haku responded. "Oh, I am just picking herbs. There for a friend of mine who got injured a while back."

"So are you a ninja by any chance?" Even though he already knew the answer to the question, he wondered whether or not he could gain some more information that could be useful.

The moment that the question was asked, Naruto's curiosity piqued. Unlike the large majority of Konoha shinobi, he wasn't one who wore the forehead protector religiously. "How did you guess?"

Hoping that he hadn't blown his cover, Haku quickly thought on the spot. "I just saw the strange knife in your hand. I have never seen one like that used before by a civilian."

Thankfully for the pseudo hunter ninja, this was something that Naruto bought. With a bit of a pause in their conversation, it was Haku who started it back up. "So why are you out here this early in the morning?"

"Well I want to become a stronger shinobi…" There was a slightly dumbfounded look on the face of Naruto. Wasn't the answer to that question

"But you seem like a strong enough shinobi already." The fake dumbfounded expression on the face of Haku was enough to coax Naruto into placing his kunai back into his pocket.

"No, you wouldn't understand. Being strong is simply not enough. All throughout my life, everything has been out of my control by people who are stronger than me. I just want to become powerful enough so that no one can force me into less than ideal situations." The blonde haired boy had no idea why he was opening up so much to a random stranger. Maybe it was the knowledge that after today, he would never see them again.

"Oh, it seems like you have motivation but I don't think that it is the right motivation." Instantly, the moment that Haku said this, the mood of one Naruto Uzumaki instantly soured.

"You don't know anything about who I am and what I have been through so you do not have the right to question me!" He hated sounding like that little whiny bitch Inari but the blonde haired boy felt that his oppression was on a much larger scale.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean anything like that, it's just that I feel as if when you have someone important to you to protect, you become truly strong."

Sighing, Naruto got up from his position on the ground which instantly made Haku on edge. Not that Naruto saw any of this mind due. "Well maybe that is something that I will get to experience in the future. For that to happen though, I will need to find people to care and protect first." Not even bothering to acknowledge his conversation partner, Naruto left the clearing.

The morose tone that he used was one filled with a lot of emotional pain. It was a pain that Haku knew all too well from his time before Zabuza-sama came along and took him in. _Just who are you Konoha shinobi?_

On his way back to the home that he was temporarily staying at, Naruto was met half way by his male teammate Sasuke Uchiha. "H-how did you get the water walking done?" that was the first time that he had ever heard the might Uchiha stutter. There was even a slight blush on the face of the Uchiha clan heir.

This could have been seen as funny but to Naruto, he saw it as someone not taking him seriously and looking down upon him. "I told you before Sasuke that I am not the shit shinobi that everyone at the academy said I was. I just didn't have access to everything like you and Hinata. Now that I can learn a whole lot more, be prepared for me to overtake you." The conviction that this carried was enough to make Sasuke stare directly at him.

"Tch" The arrogant response that Naruto got in return was one that made him annoyed. On the other side of the arrogant scoff Sasuke was actually taking the words of Naruto very seriously. He had seen how much he had improved in such a short space of time. The threat of Naruto catching up to him and even possibly overtaking him as a shinobi was a very real possibility.

At that split second, Sasuke decided instead to not go back to breakfast and instead go and do some more water walking training. Not wanting to be outdone either, Naruto himself went to his Raiton training. He was busy learning a new jutsu and he had to have it ready by the time Team Seven and Zabuza fought once again.

Let it not be said that these two kids didn't have major egos.

* * *

**Author's Note: Despite this being something that I didn't really want to write as it has been done countless times, it needed to be done for some of the changes that are about to take place. Hopefully the start of the 5th chapter will be where the true diversion of this story begins.**


	4. The climax of the storm

Yet again Naruto had over trained to the point where he slept in. with today being one of the expected days that Zabuza could come and attack Tazuna. There was a really loud noise coming from downstairs that woke him up.

As he realised just how late it was in the morning, Naruto quickly got dressed and checked that he had everything he needed for the fight at the bridge. Whilst he was making his way down the stairs, Naruto easily heard Tsunami shout. Wondering what it was that could be causing the noise, Naruto ran down the stairs.

Standing in front of Tsunami and Inari were two tall men. Both of them had swords in their hands in preparation for a kill. "Wait! You want a hostage right, then if you lay a finger on my son then I will bite my own tongue and kill myself."

"Heh, thank your mum kid, she just saved your life." One of the bandits stated as they laughed at the crying expression on the kid's face. _Mum! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry… I'm just a weak little kid who can't protect you. _It was then that the voices of Team Seven came into his mind. Most notably it was the voice of Naruto telling him that he was a cry baby who just gave up when things got tough.

With his mind made up that he didn't want the same thing that happened to his step father to happen to his mum, Inari got up from his position next to the wall so that he could go and rescue his mother. In hindsight it was a stupid idea for a little kid to go up against two fully grown men with weapons in their hands. Tsunami, watching this unfold almost had a heart attack watching her son charge at the men. Her calls for him to stop fell on deaf ears as he continued to charge at Gato's henchmen.

Right at the last second when the swords were swinging, Inari was replaced by a tree log. Everyone had to turn around to find Naruto looking after Inari to make sure that he was alright. "Phew…" Tsunami sighed as she felt her rapidly beating heart go a mile a minute.

Having never been up against someone who was using a sword before, Naruto took caution as he pulled out a kunai for each hand. Charging at the enemy bandits, Naruto rushed them at a speed that the bandits hadn't seen before. When the blonde haired boy had gotten within two metres of his target, he launched a kunai with great velocity right at one of the men. It hit right on target.

Said target was the neck of one of Gato's henchmen. It embedded straight into the carotid artery. Blood started pouring out from the wound. Within a second, Waraji was on the ground spamming and only a little bit later, he was dead.

Zori, for the life of him was shocked at what he had just witnessed happen to his best friend. Shocked at his friend's demise, he was unprepared to onrushing Naruto. By the time he did react, it was far too late for him to stop Naruto who slashed at the same spot where Waraji was it.

There was shock evident on the face of Naruto as he hadn't expected for there to be so much blood. This was his first human kill and it was a something that he didn't know how to handle. It was something that he thought that he prepared but was he was realising right now, it was something that you could never be prepared for.

How the blonde haired boy justified this was by the fact that if he had knocked the bandits out, what was to say that they wouldn't just come back when they woke up?

Since they were on a pier, Naruto decided that the best form of burial in terms of time was to just chuck the bodies into the water. With that done, Naruto rushed towards the bridge. The son of the fourth Hokage didn't even bother to say anything to Tsunami or Inari as there were more important things for him to do.

Seeing that Sasuke was up against the hunter ninja all by himself, Naruto thought that this was the best place to start as both Hinata and Kakashi could handle themselves. They didn't know how powerful this hunter ninja was. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best of ideas.

"You total moron! If you say you aren't a shit shinobi then why did you not use your head? Why did you come inside the mirrors! Damn it! I don't care anymore."

"This is what I get? Well fuck you then, I'm not helping you at all from now on. We don't know how strong this ninja is so I thought it was better to be safe rather than sorry." The moment that Naruto finished saying this, he slowly started going through hand seals to use the only jutsu that he knew apart from the academy three. "**Raiton: Jibashi no jutsu (Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder Jutsu)**" Despite the jutsu having a rather deathly sounding name, it wasn't the highest of technical jutsus.

After he had done the hand seals, Naruto spread his fingers facing the dome of Ice walls. Feeling the surge of electricity in his hands, Naruto yelled out as he let loose the volatile energy at the enemy. Each small bolt of lightning coming from the respective finger was unrestrained in the direction that it went.

Since Naruto hadn't had a lot of time to practice and perfect the jutsu, it was still raw in that it didn't contain much power. The widespread effect of it though was enough to make Haku weary of Naruto. In the eyes of Naruto, he didn't see anything, not even a scratch on the ice. Frustrated at the fact that what he had been working for almost two weeks was virtually useless, Naruto did the jutsu once more. This time however, he channelled in a much larger amount of chakra.

Knowing that the lightning element was good at piercing objects, Haku wasn't taking any chances as she dodged the incoming jutsu with ease. There was a small crack in the ice of multiple walls that got hit by Naruto's jutsu.

Out of the three shinobi in the fight, Sasuke was the one who was shocked the most. He had just witnessed something in the corner of his eye. He wasn't too sure but he thought that he had just witnessed their enemy entering the ice wall once again.

"Naruto, how many times can you do that move before you run out of chakra? I have a plan." Sasuke called out to his teammate who was on one knee currently.

"I am a chakra powerhouse, I can go and use this for days and not get tired." It slightly irked Sasuke when he heard this because Naruto was yet again proving something that he was better at. There was no chance in hell that he could do the same thing with constantly spamming out jutsus like there was no tomorrow.

"Alright then. Just dodge the incoming attacks as best as you can and spam out that jutsu. I am starting to read his movements." As he said this, the eyes of the last loyal Uchiha were slowly changing colour from their normal black colour.

Listening to the words of his teammate, Naruto nodded and as he was getting up off of the ground, he took out one of the senbon needles which were in his leg.

_This jutsu is going through my chakra quite quickly. I must end this quickly as I might have to help Zabuza-sama._ With that last thought in his mind, Haku sprinted out of his wall and in the direction of Sasuke. He was the biggest threat at this point in time.

Two senbon managed to hit Naruto and he fell yet again to one knee from the attack. Using his best jutsu, the blonde haired boy sprayed it in the direction of Haku. Due to the erratic nature thanks to Naruto's less than ideal control over the jutsu, one of the stray bolts of lightning connected with the upper arm of Haku.

This slowed down the pace of Haku but it was still not enough for Naruto to follow. That was the beauty that his **Raiton: Jibashi no jutsu (Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder Jutsu) **covered up and was the perfect jutsu for this particular fight.

Sasuke was content to use his **Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu Fire Style (Grand Fireball jutsu). **It was the one that he was most comfortable using.

Eventually, during the fight Naruto was starting to tire because he was taking more hits from the senbon needles. Sasuke however had taken considerably less and less hits from the senbon needles of Haku compared to when the fight had just started.

As he saw the incoming needles of death, Sasuke knew that he had been caught off guard. He was internally cursing at the fact that it only took one mistake and he knew that it would cost him dearly. Suddenly though, his vision suddenly got a lot of clarity and he could see things much sharper. He didn't know it at the time but it was right here that he activated his sharingan Dojutsu.

The surprise was evident on the face of Haku. Thankfully he had a mask on as it meant that the Uchiha clan heir didn't get to see the look of surprise. Deciding that it was going to be near next to impossible to hit Sasuke now that he had activated the sharingan, Haku changed his target. There was always more than one way to skin a cat.

Instead of going around in circles with senbon like he used to do, Haku this time directly went straight at Naruto who was on his haunches, struggling to get up. The amount of time that it took Sasuke to realise what was going on made it almost too late for him to react in time. Getting a fresh surge of adrenaline, Sasuke launched his body as fast as he could to where Naruto was.

Finally, Naruto managed to struggle up on to two feet and survey the damage. Instantly, the blonde haired shinobi went wide eyed as he saw his teammate looking like a porcupine. Wondering why he was so hurt considering that it was normally him who was taking the damage, it took a second for Naruto to realise what had happened.

_Sasuke had took the hit for me!? _"Geez, all you ever do is get in the way…" Sasuke softly said. It was as if it was very hard to even say that in the mind of Naruto. It was only then that he realised just how much pain Sasuke was in. "You know… I hated you"

The way that Sasuke was speaking right now was scaring Naruto the fuck out. Why was he using past tense? The Uzumaki shinobi just couldn't figure it out. That was until Sasuke fell onto his hands and knees. "But but, why, why me!?" Naruto shouted out loud enough for everyone to hear.

Said action brought Hinata's attention to the scene and with her Byakugan, she could easily see all of the damage that had been done to her teammate. Tears instantly started forming in her eyes. Placing a brave face on, Hinata did her best to force what she had just witnessed away from the forefront of her mind. She had a job to do and she was going to do it as best as she damned could!

"I don't know… My body just moved on its own idiot." When he finished saying this, the raven haired boy fell flat onto his stomach. "That man… My brother… I told myself that I wouldn't die until I killed him." Now Naruto had no idea where his compassionate side was coming from as it was something that never saw the light of day. He didn't know it was happening but Naruto felt himself saddened by the emotional pain of someone other than himself. What Sasuke said next was something that tore Naruto up inside.

For the dying child, it was hard to hear the words that were coming from his mouth. He never thought he would be saying those things but he assumed that since he was on his death bed with his eyes closed, he was allowed to say whatever he wanted.

"I know that despite all of our differences that we have had, Team Seven has been the best fun that I have had ever since what Itachi did. I know that if I was in your shoes. You would have done the exact same thing in diving to save me."

There was even a lone tear that rolled down the face of Naruto. He knew that if was in the same position as Sasuke, he probably wouldn't have done the same thing. The guilt that he was feeling was something that you simply couldn't describe with words. Someone could only tell by looking directly into the blonde haired boy's eyes.

_When a person has something important to protect, that's when they truly become strong. _The words echoed in his mind that he had only heard mere days before hand. Naruto now understood what they meant. In that split second, Naruto had an epiphany. He was going to become the strongest shinobi not only to prevent people forcing him into things that he didn't want to do, but also so that no one that he ever came to care about got hurt. The pain that he was feeling right now was unbearable.

"No don't talk like that! You're going to live. You're going to kill Itachi. You're going to restore the Uchiha clan just like you said you would." Naruto was rushing his words as they uncontrollably spilt from his mouth.

"He landed a blow on me and without flinching, he died to protect you. To protect a precious person knowing that he was walking into a trap; he was still able to jump in. He is a shinobi that deserves respect.

Is this your first death of a friend? Unfortunately, this is the way of the shinobi..." The words cut through Naruto's emotional defences like a knife through butter. All the sadness and guilt changed in an instant to anger and rage. The mood in the area changed as the air got denser. Unknown to Naruto, he was unleashing a large amount of killer intent.

Red chakra started swirling around from his prone form as he held Sasuke in his arms. His eyes changed from their royal blue colour to a much darker, bloodier red. There were even black slits going down through the middle. Fingernails started to get longer and sharper. The transformation that Naruto was undertaking thanks to the Kyubi's chakra was truly amazing.

This was not the only transformation that the blonde haired boy was going through right now though. The Kyubi's chakra started flooding into the Naruto's body. It affected everything from closing up his wounds to going down right to his very core.

Since Naruto was an orphan, he had no idea who his parents were or where they were from. After today he would at least have a clue as to where one of them came from. Right Inside his DNA, there was a mutation from the normal human strand.

The reaction that came from the Kyubi's chakra to this caused a dormant gene to become much more pronounced through the DNA. The resulting change was that the physical composition of Naruto Uzumaki's body starter to alter; mirroring the changes.

The bones that made up his body started to become bigger thicker, stronger, more dense. The pain that this caused was marred by the unleashing of the Kyubi's chakra for the first time. If that was not all, said bones even started to protrude out from his skin. Multiple bones started sticking out from odd angles, piercing his clothing coming from weird spots such as the knees, elbows and all along the back. Red rings appeared under his bright blue eyes and finally, the birth marks that came from the transformation started to appear on the skin right on top of his clavicle bones.

_The dead bone pulse of the Kaguya clan, just who is this child? _Haku started to think as she feared for what was about to happen. Never before had she felt killing intent that was more evil than this. Zabuza-sama didn't even hold a candle to this. The physical manifestation of the red chakra was enough to set the hunter ninja on edge.

Haku wasn't the only one who was feeling the chakra. Kakashi was also feeling it and he didn't know what this meant. All he knew was that something had happened and it was time for him to end the fight as soon as possible so he could go find out if everything was okay. _There's no time to slow down! _Using the blood that came from the cut which he had purposefully allowed Zabuza to land, Kakashi pulled out a scroll, swiped his blood on it and started doing hand seals.

Small little Hinata-chan was shocked to her core when she felt the killing intent from over where Naruto and Sasuke where. Hinata could see it coming straight from inside of Naruto and she could easily admit to being afraid of Naruto right now. Not only that but what was happening with his skeletal structure was something that she had never seen before.

Hinata hoped that it didn't hurt that much because it looked like it damned did!

"This might not suit your style but this had gone on for long enough. It is now time to end all of this fun and finish it now." Kakashi stated, his voice getting even more serious than what it was before. Right now, there was no situation that could possibly get it to become more serious.

Not seeing how Kakashi could possibly end the right there and then if he wanted to, Zabuza spoke up. "Humph, sounds interesting Kakashi but what can you do in this situation? I'd like to see you try."

All Kakashi hoped was that Naruto could hold out just a little bit longer.

Said boy had now given into his baser instincts with his rage taking over the situation. Fuelled with the chakra from the Kyubi, Naruto rushed forwards towards the hunter ninja.

Knowing that she couldn't count on her ice mirrors to protect her from the Kaguya bloodline limit, Haku leapt into one of her other mirrors. As she was doing this, she threw out three senbon right at the pulmonary artery of Naruto. Haku did not however expect for Naruto to simply shrug them off by expelling a large amount of chakra.

Shocked at this, Haku fled to another mirror as Naruto's speed had dramatically increased due to the newfound chakra. Not only that but his vision had increased to the point in which he could see the movements of Haku with slight difficulty.

Launching out with his left hand, Naruto subconsciously used his hand to grab a hold of Haku's wrist. The two small, sharp bones that came out of his wrist pierced through the skin of Haku. With the force that it came with, the two bones went straight through the muscle and bones, coming out the other side.

Not content with just this, Naruto pulled back with his right arm and launched with all of his strength straight at the mask of the hunter ninja. With his pronounced knuckles, Naruto rather easily broke the mask of the hunter ninja. The power of the punch was enough that when Naruto let go of his hold of his enemy's wrist, it slid of his bone and went flying along with the rest of the body. With the speed and force that the hunter ninja was moving at, they slammed into ice wall and broke through it. Such was the power of a Kyubi influenced Naruto Uzumaki.

Following up from his brutal two hit combo, Naruto sped to the form of the hunter ninja. It was only as he was rushing upon the person that he saw that it was the girl from earlier. Just as his punch was going to hit, he pulled back. "Why, why did you stop?"

Naruto had spaced out and he wasn't really paying much attention to what Haku was saying. "You, you're that person from the forest."

"I killed your precious friend and yet you can't kill me?" the moment that Naruto heard this, he turned around and looked back at where Sasuke lay. Feeling the anger course through him once more, Naruto unleashed a vicious punch at the face of Haku. The punch was powerful enough that it was able to instantly fracture the pseudo hunter ninja's jaw on impact.

Planning on not stopping there, Naruto ran over to Haku as the adrenaline and Kyubi chakra disappeared from his system. Looking down at the bone coming out of his arm, Naruto only then realised what had happened. Glancing over his entire body, Naruto noticed all of the bones coming out of his skin in places such as his forearms, calves, all along his ribs and shoulders.

"What the fuck is happening to me!" Naruto screamed out as he was scared out of his mind. Never in a million years did he think of something like this happening." The loud scream that accompanied this brought everyone's attention back to Naruto.

"I see you too have ancestors from Kirigakure. I can tell why they fled hoping to give you a better life. From what you said though about your childhood earlier, I can see that didn't happen." Curious as to what Haku was saying, Naruto now had a chance to find out more about his parents and he wasn't going to pass it up.

"What do you mean? I don't know what you are talking about." The blonde haired boy vowed to himself that when all was said and done, he was going to research up on whatever it was that had happened to his body.

"You don't? Well you have a bloodline from the Kaguya clan which hailed from the village hidden in the mist. Kirigakure had endless wars and those with advanced blood came to be hated. During the fighting, the bloodlines became feared and thus they were blamed for bringing the war to the country. People had to hide the truth about their own blood.

My mother came from one of these families that had a bloodline. I unintentionally showed my father that I had this ability and do you know what he did?" Naruto gathered that it was a rhetorical question and that he was going to get the answer soon anyway.

"My father killed my mother and then tried to kill me. Subconsciously, I retaliated and killed him before he killed me. Do you want to know the most painful thing about that though that I realised? That in this world, I am a person who is unwanted." The moment that he heard this, Naruto could instantly relate to the feelings that he had when he was in Konoha for all of his childhood.

"You said that you wanted to become so that no one could control you, now if someone acknowledged you and allowed you to have complete free reign on your life, wouldn't that person become the most important person in the world to you?

Zabuza took me in despite knowing that I was a child who had a bloodline, the blood that everyone hated, he desired it. I was so happy. That is why, now that I have lost this fight I am useless to him so Naruto-kun, can you please kill me." Despite the fact that he had killed two people earlier in the day, this scenario was completely different. Having someone ask you to kill them was an eye opener for the young blonde haired boy.

"Please hurry and kill me, why are you hesitating?" This broke Naruto out of his funk and he started running over to the standing, broken figure of Haku. "If we had met under different circumstances, we could have been friends." Just as the blade from his wrist was going to connect with the heart of Haku, the pseudo hunter ninja quickly grabbed onto the arm of Naruto. Said action did not come without injuries though as there were bone spikes protruding all along his forearms. "Sorry but I can't die just yet." Haku said as she was going through some one handed seals and then all of a sudden, she disappeared.

Hearing a piercing sound in his ear drums, Naruto turned his attention to the direction of where it was coming from. Seeing Kakashi-sensei charge with actual lightning coming off of his hand was so cool!

The impending impact of the lightning covered hand did not connect with its intended target of Zabuza Momochi. Instead, the use of the shunshin from Haku blocked the path. Unfortunately that was with his body.

"My future is death? You are wrong again Kakashi." The now free Zabuza stated to Kakashi who still had his hand in the heart of Haku. Making the most of the situation that was presented to him, Zabuza swung his insanely large sword. His intention was to cleave straight through the body of his former apprentice to get to Kakashi.

Luckily Kakashi was quick enough to jump back with his hand still inside of Haku and drag the two to safety. Well as safe as Haku could get with being already dead.

Following up on his miss-swing, Zabuza charged at Kakashi only for him to be able land a brutal kick to the stomach.

Tazuna, who was watching everything happen felt guilty. "You know Hinata, I'll go with you so you can see your teammates. That way you won't be breaking your sensei's orders."

Responding with a grateful smile, Hinata dragged Tazuna across the bridge so she could go help out her team. The old man was just freaked out from the sight of the kid's veiny, bulging eyes. It scared all these weird things that happened to shinobi. It was then that the man saw what had happened to Naruto who had bones sticking out of him. He thought that he had seen it all until he saw that!

Despite seeing the blood that was on Naruto, it didn't bother Hinata so she ran up to him and gave him a hug. The adrenaline was coursing through her body and it gave her courage that was pretty much unseen before. Of course the bones that were poking into her were not at all that comfortable but she would put up with it so she could hug her teammate.

Naruto for his part was shocked at the fact that this was the first time in a long, long time that someone had touched his this way. The feelings of a hug were completely foreign to him. It took him a while but he awkwardly put his hands on Hinata's back.

"I'm glad to see that you're safe Naruto-kun." With that said, Hinata let go and made her way over the form of Sasuke. Tears were running down her face but she didn't care.

Even if she hadn't known her team for all that long, they were the first people in a long time who were nice to her apart from Kurenai-sensei. She knew that she was someone who easily got over emotional about things close to her and this was no exception. "Sasuke-kun" Hinata softly said as she stoked his hair. She was still not completely coming to terms with the fact that one of her teammates was dead.

_This is the way of the shinobi? Children dying when they should be in the playground having fun? This ninja life is too harsh. _Tazuna thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold in front of his eyes.

As this was happening, Zabuza was trying to land a hit on Kakashi although he was too damaged from the wounds he had suffered from Kakashi's dogs. "This is over. You can't even beat me in this state." Whilst he was saying this, the silver haired man had a kunai in his hand, ready to press it into the back of his opponent's neck.

Not content with this outcome, the mist shinobi still gave it his all by swinging his sword. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi ducked underneath the swing and impaled his kunai into Zabuza's triceps, hitting the bone.

"Oh, you're getting your ass handed to you, how disappointing that is." A completely new voice stated as it came to the scene.

Turning around when he heard the familiar voice, Zabuza saw someone he did not like one bit. "Why are you here and what are all of these men doing!?"

"Hahaha, the plan has changed. Well actually, I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I am going to have you killed here, I planned on paying you any money really.

Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive and they might betray me. That is why I get missing ninjas like you because they are easy to take care of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle one another and once they are weakened, I kill them off with numbers. It sounds like a good business plan don't you think." Hearing that, Zabuza turned to his former opponent.

"I'm sorry our fight is now over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you. Kakashi, let me borrow your kunai. This one is for you Haku…" Zabuza stated out loud but as he continued on, his voice trailed off as there was a lone tear that went down the side of his face.

After getting the kunai from Kakashi, Zabuza tore down part of his bandage masked and held the kunai in his mouth. With everything now prepared, the man raced at speeds that were troubling for civilians to follow. With killing intent leaking off of him, The Demon of the Mist charged into a group of bandits, dealing loads of damage to the enemy whilst copping a bit himself. He knew that he was going to die though so that was no problem.

He had only last thing that he had to do before he kicked the bucket. Kill Gato.

After making it through the passage that he had created himself. Zabuza launched himself at Gato and impaled the kunai in his mouth straight into the neck of his betrayer. Swords were sticking out of his body but that didn't matter to him as he had done what he set out to do.

The damage that had been done to his body finally caught up with him and The Demon of the mist fell to the ground. _This is goodbye Haku. Thank you for everything… I'm sorry…_

Seeing what had become of the man who Haku referred to as his master, Naruto couldn't help but wonder ... All he could do was just stare at what had just unfolded.

It was at this point that Kakashi took notice of his blonde haired student. "Naruto what happened!" he exclaimed with alarm as he couldn't believe his eyes. Not in one hundred million years did Kakashi think that the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki would become the last surviving person to wield the Shikotsumyaku."

Panicking because the way that his sensei spoke made his new transformation seemed like a bad thing, Naruto started to hyperventilate. It didn't help that there was a stray thought going through his mind that this newfound transformation could be permanent. He didn't want to give Konoha as a whole another reason to make him the outcast with no friends / family.

Meanwhile, as this was going through the mind of Naruto, someone else was slowly waking from the land of unconsciousness. "Hinata, you're heavy.:

Surprised at hearing the voice coming from someone who she thought was dead, the Hyuga clan heir instantly reacted by giving her teammate a large hug. "S-s-Sasuke-kun, y-y-you're alive." The biggest smile marred her face as she was relieved at the fact that she wouldn't have to witness the burial of one of her teammates.

Meanwhile for his part, the Uchiha clan heir didn't know what to do. This was a situation that was completely foreign to him just like it was to Naruto when Hinata hugged him as well.

"Hinata, what happened to Naruto and the masked ninja?"

The smile that was on her face slowly started to dim as the reality of Sasuke being alive set in but the happiness did not dissipate from the girl's face. "N-Naruto-kun is fine and the masked ninja is dead." The moment that these words were spoken, Sasuke was shocked. From what he had witnessed before, there was no possible way for Naruto to survive let alone kill the hunter ninja.

"Dead, did Naruto kill him?"

"N-no, Ka-Kakashi-sensei killed him. It's impressive that you pre-prevented all attacks from hitting cr-crucial areas." Hinata didn't know what she had said but the moment that she did, Sasuke looked down at the ground.

"No… He purposefully did that Hinata, not me."

"W-well, we always have time to get stronger for the next fight right?"

"Yes, yes we do."

With their being a bit of an awkward silence after this was said, Sasuke struggled to get onto his haunches. He was then helped up onto his feet with a arm around Hinata. Blushing at the contact because he was put into a situation that again, he had never been in, Sasuke said nothing but started walking over to where his teammate and sensei were.

It was then that multiple voices that could be heard for miles shook Team Seven out of their reprieve. "Hey you killed our meal ticket!"

"You damned ninjas are dead!"

"Now we're gonna pillage this city and take anything of value."

When this was said, all of the bandits started charging at the four allied people on the other end of the bridge. Hearing this, Naruto became nervous. Whilst he definitely had the chakra reserves to fight a whole group of people like this, that was the only thing that he had. He didn't have any type of super kickass jutsu that could take down heaps of bandits at one.

Turning to his sensei, Naruto asked him a question. "Kakashi, do you have anything that can defeat these guys?"

Thinking things over, he knew that he had one move that could definitely take all of the bandits out. The problem was that it was going to be brutal. The end result was going to be scenes for a verified member of the ANBU black ops rather than something that a freshly minted genin should see. Looking around, Kakashi saw that there was no other option. Standing to his feet, Kakashi let his hands fall down to the ground.

_Kaimon (Gate of Opening.) Kyumon (Gate of Healing.) ACTIVATE! _Mentally calling out the name of the jutsu, Kakashi felt the limits that held his muscles in place release allowing him to use them to their full potential. "Naruto, grab a hold of one of those bones and pull it whilst channelling chakra into it." The blond haired boy was hesitant when he heard this request. Pulling a bone out of your skin seemed like a far stretch of the imagination.

"Trust me that as you pull it out, a new one will instantly grow back in it's place. Hurry!" Kakashi stated. Not only was that because of the impending mob but also because of the severe amount of strain that opening the second gate did to his body.

Sure the influx of power was good and all but it was not something that he could hold onto for a reasonable amount of time. This wasn't even considering the fact that he had used a chidori and had his sharingan in use for quite a while.

Hearing the urgency in his sensei's voice, Naruto did as he said and low and behold, the bone coming out from his elbow instantly grew back. To Naruto, it didn't even feel like he was missing something because his arm felt the same before and after.

Well, that was apart from the slight pain and discomfort that come from having to pull a part of what made you alive out of your body. Handing over the piece of himself over to his sensei, Naruto wondered what it was that he was going to do with it. Naruto didn't realise just how powerful it was.

Once the hand over was complete, Kakashi disappeared from sight. Screams filled the area as the difference between a well-trained ninja compared to a bandit was on show right here. Kakashi Hatake was carving right through all of the mercenaries with just a sword. The extra range that the bone sword provided compared to a kunai was something that the ex ANBU black ops captain was making full use of.

Within 20 seconds the group of about 75 bandits was reduced to mere corpses. Once he was done, Kakashi look at his surroundings and saw that there was no more threats to either Tazuna, himself but most importantly, no threats to his students. The moment that this was assured, Kakashi promptly passed out and collapsed onto the ground.

Naruto, being closest to the scene, rushed over to see what was wrong. When he went over there, he noticed that his Jonin leader was on the ground sleeping. A little bit later and both Sasuke and Hinata had come over to the scene. "What the hell happened to you dobe?" The Uchiha clan heir stated as he got his first site of Naruto since his bloodline activated.

The moment that he heard this, Naruto turned around with his excitement. That voice was one which was very familiar to him. "Sasuke! You're alive" Naruto said, stating the obvious.

Not really used to all of the attention that he was getting, Sasuke had a slight blush on his face. "Yeah, so what? You still haven't said why you look like a pin cushion."

It was at this point in time having both of his teammates stare at him, seeing his recent transformation, Naruto suddenly started to get self-conscious. There was the real possibility that both Hinata and Sasuke could be his first friends and he didn't want for this bloodline thingy to change the way that they look at him. What if they suddenly decided that they didn't want to be friends with him because of his appearance?

There was no use evading the question or lying because the blonde haired boy knew that Hinata would be able to see right through him with those damned eyes. "Apparently, as it turns out, I have a bloodline where I can manipulate my bones with calcium.

"Oh okay then, is Kakashi alright?" when Naruto heard this, he couldn't believe his ears. The severe overestimation that he had placed on his team judging him made him feel like a piece of shit. In all honesty, Sasuke was too dazed from just waking up that he couldn't give a rat's arse. Hinata for her part was happy that her team had survived everything and now they could rest.

"A-ano, we should pro-probably get back to Tazuna's h-house." The Hyuga girl said, breaking her two teammates out of a stare.

Nodding when he heard this, Naruto knew that he was going to be the person carrying Kakashi. Knowing that his Jonin-sensei wouldn't really appreciate having his bones sticking into him, he tried to think of a way around this.

Taking a wild stab in the dark, Naruto channelled his chakra into one of his bones in his forearm with a pulling motion. The result was that it slowly came back into his body with the skin covering up the whole which was once there. Happy at what he had just witnessed, with his curiosity piqued, Naruto did the exact same thing with a pushing motion. The slow result was the bone coming out of his skin to the same size as what it once was. The weird feeling and slight pain that came with it was something that he could get used to though.

Watching this unfold was Sasuke and Hinata who were fascinated by the scenes unfolding in front of them.

Deciding to get down to more important things, Naruto, as fast as he could, pulled all of the bones back into his skin so that he looked normal. It was slow going and it was definitely something that needed practice but in the end, it was all done.

Picking up the slack form of his sensei, Naruto struggled with the weight a bit but he eventually got used to carrying someone much larger than him over his shoulders. Walking with his team, Team Seven approached Tazuna-san who was still in shock, having witnessed what Kakashi had done to save them. "Come on Tazuna-san. The war is over, we can now go and rest." Naruto said to which the old man dumbly nodded and walked like a husk with his shinobi escorts.

**Later**

The word of Gato's demise had quickly started spreading throughout the town. It was like a wildfire when it was heard and this subsequently brought the town to life as everyone was in the street. Singing, dancing and drinking alcohol were a large part of the festivities. For Team Seven however, this was not something that they could participate in.

With Kakashi lying in bed fast asleep and Sasuke passing out into the land of dreams when he arrived back at the house, all it left was Hinata and Naruto. Both of them had to stay on guard in case anything out of the ordinary happened whilst his team was recovering.

The house was oddly silent given the great news that had been given and thus, this was the reason why Naruto decided he might strike up a conversation with Hinata. She was looking incredibly sad and seemed to be judging herself. "What's wrong?" Naruto questioned to the Hyuga clan heir.

As soon as she heard Naruto's voice, Hinata burst into tears. The blonde haired boy was taken aback by this as he had no idea what to do in this situation.

Whilst this was happening, the male genin was having an internal debate. All of his life he had lived the mantra of not caring for anyone other than himself. It was what had gotten him through all of the tough times that he had suffered as a child where he didn't have even a single friend.

Now though, things were changing a bit as Naruto thought with the definition of friend in the dictionary, both Hinata and Sasuke would fall under that. They were definitely more than just acquaintances and the blonde haired boy ventured to say that they were more than just teammates as well. It just went to show how much had changed since the formation of Team Seven.

Knowing how much the hug that Hinata gave to him even when he had his bloodline activated meant to him, Naruto wanted to help out his only female teammate. Going through the back of his mind though were all of the times that when he was younger and tried to make friends, everything would always turn out to be too good to be true.

He didn't want to open himself up only to get hurt once again.

In the end, the Uzumaki child decided to take that chance. If all else failed and this ended up in him getting stabbed in the back, then he could either request a change in teams or grin and bear it until the chunin exams and get a promotion. Naruto decided that this would be the last chance that he would ever give out to open up to someone.

The next problem was how the fuck did he stop Hinata from crying? It was something that he had absolutely no idea how to stop. In the end, he awkwardly put his hand on the shoulder of Hinata.

The moment that this happened, the girl broke out of her tears and looked up at Naruto. Tears were still running down her face. "So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" As soon as these words were uttered, Naruto thought to himself. _Fuck this is awkward, I completely screwed up that!_

A little stunned from the way Naruto had just asked her a question, Hinata recovered a bit by swallowing the saliva in her mouth so she hopefully didn't sound like an absolute mess. It would be really embarrassing if she did one of the crying bubble blowing speeches. "I J-j-just f-feel l-like I did n-nothing the m-m-mission."

Baffled by the response that he got, Naruto instantly responded. "Well, that's stupid." The moment that Naruto said this, he got a look that wasn't too sure what the meaning behind it was. Expanding from where he left off, Naruto wanted to not bring across the idea that Hinata was the stupid one, just the fact that she was stupid for thinking that she was useless.

"We were going up against someone who was great at making our vision useless. You were the only one who could properly see through the mist. That's why you were the person who had to protect Tazuna whilst me and Sasuke fought the hunter ninja. There was no chance that either Sasuke or myself could have protected Tazuna as well you could have."

Hearing the words come from someone else was definitely reassuring for the confidence levels of Hinata. For someone who didn't have high confidence levels to begin with, it meant the world to her that her team was there for her when her family was not.

It was here that the start of the friendship of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga began. Throughout the whole conversation the two had, there was not a single time that the smiles left their respective faces.

**Later**

Despite the fact that Gato was dead and the feeling of oppression being gone, both Naruto and Hinata had decided to do shift work to make sure that that was the case. The two of them would have hated it if they rested on their security blanket only for it to be turned upside down.

"_Heart dives into frozen waves where the past comes back to life."_

the soft voice that accompanied the words through Naruto for a loop. He didn't think that tsunami would be playing that radio at this hour in the night. Especially so when it was coming from outside the house.

Wondering who it was that was making the noise, Naruto ventured out onto the jetty behind the house.

"_Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time."_

When he heard it continue on, Naruto was sure that he wasn't hearing things. As quietly as he could, the blonde haired boy tried to sneak up and find out what was going on.

"_Hold still right before we crash 'cause we both know how this ends  
A clock ticks till it breaks your glass and I drown in you again."_

It was obvious to Naruto when he heard this part that it was someone singing a song. This was despite how quietly it was being sung.

"'_Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need  
Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why."_

Staring down at the dock, Naruto saw Hinata sitting on the edge of the planks of wood, feet hanging over the water. The moonlight was out in full force making the girl shine. The blonde haired boy was completely entranced with the unknowingly given performance from his newfound friend.

"_If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?  
If our love is insanity, when are you my clarity?"_

Ninjas reflexes were normally very quick. When Hinata heard clapping coming from behind her, the speed of which she turned around put nearly all ninjas to shame. When she heard the clapping coming from behind her, the girl turned around to see Naruto behind her. "H-h-h-h-how l-l-l-long h-h-have y-you b-been st-standing th-there?" The heat had gone to her face, all over her face it was bright red due to the blood behind the skin.

"For pretty much the whole time." Naruto replied as he walked out to sit down next to Hinata. "You know, if I was ever able to sing like that, I wouldn't be ashamed of it like you are right now, I'd be heaps proud of it." It wasn't as if the blonde haired boy was bullshitting either. He honestly thought that his teammate was a really good singer. He wasn't just saying it because if he thought she was shit at it, then it would lead to a rather awkward friendship.

He had never had one of those before and he didn't want to ruin it before it even started.

As this was going through the mind of Naruto, he didn't notice the look of relief that went across the face of Hinata. Instead of the look of embarrassment, it was quickly replaced with the biggest smile you would ever see.

"Y-you're the f-first person t-to hear me sing. It was a hobby of my m-mother's be-be-before she d-d-died. I d-decided to d-do it as a hobby in her m-m-memory." That was something that Naruto honestly wasn't expecting to hear. Honestly, he didn't exactly care that it was something that her mother used to do.

"Well I reckon she would be proud if she saw you now singing like that." The truth was that Naruto had absolute no idea whatsoever as he had no experience with parents in his entire life. It was what Hinata needed to hear at the time though because the happiness that was radiating off of her was so much that it even made Naruto himself smile.

The next action brought Naruto to a blushing mess. Being hugged tightly was something that he didn't think that he was ever going to get used to. That being said, the emotions that it brought him were definitely something that he could get used to.

* * *

**Author's Note: Get ready as this is where the real diversion begins!**


	5. Preparation for what's to come

With there being two more weeks before the final completion of the bridge that Tazuna had aptly named _Bloodstone Bridge _After what he had witnessed that day, Kakashi brought his students to their previous training ground. The bridge was smooth sailing from now on as the village had rallied up an army to go and fend off against the remaining bandits.

Wave country saw it as the least that they could do after hearing the heroic tales of Team Seven during their relentless fights saving a nation torn with poverty and depression.

This left Team Seven with complete free time as they oversaw the completion of the mission.

"Okay kids, I am pretty sure that it is safe to say that this mission has been a real eye opener for you." Seeing the nods that he got from his three students', Kakashi continued on from where he left off. "I can say the same thing as this has definitely been something that I will not forget.

When it comes to shinobi missions, there is one thing that I always follow by which I suggest you three do as well. 'Prepare for the worst but hope for the best.'" The three respective nods came out from each student as they took the words of the elder ninja to heart.

"To be honest with you, this is my first ever time teaching genin so I wasn't sure how much I push you to achieve your best. I only have experience teaching ANBU operatives who are willing to give every single last muscle contraction and breath to their training."

Before Kakashi could continue on with anything, Naruto rather rudely interrupted him. "I think that I speak for every one of us when I say we are willing to go to that level and beyond when it comes to our training Kakashi. We hated the feeling of being helpless and having to watch you carry the team all by yourself with us picking up the pieces. We want to be at your level so that we don't feel useless again."

The inspiring speech coming from his blonde haired student was mirrored with nods of approval from both Hinata and Sasuke. With an eye smile, the former ANBU captain responded. "Well aren't my cute little students driven to be strong shinobi. You know, you got quite a long time before you're even close to my level right?"

Despite the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke wanted to deny the last statement, they were willing to throw away their pride if it meant getting the training they wanted, no scratch that needed!

Seeing that the looks of determination not wavering one bit one all three of his students' faces, Kakashi instantly saw this as what he needed to nominate his team for the upcoming chunin exams. There was still three whole entire months before they came around and he was confident that he could get his team up to that level if not higher.

Let it not be stated that Kakashi wanted to prove that he was the better sensei between himself and Gai.

"Right, then prepare for death my precious students. This training is going to be absolutely brutal and you are going to hate me for it. By the time that I am done with you three though, you will be able to take on any genin team from your graduating class BY YOURSELVES. You can thank me later." The weird eye smile that their sensei gave them only further scared the

_Just what have we signed up for? _Was what all three genin were thinking. Sharing a look between one another, they knew that even if this was going to be hell on earth, they at least had each other to watch their backs. It was a newfound feeling that Naruto was experiencing but it was one that he wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

"Okay my disciples, first thing you need to improve if you want to be at my level if your physical fitness. Your body will be the first thing that will tire during a mission if things get tough. You have to build up the tolerance on the training field to persist through the pain so it doesn't affect you on the battlefield."

With that said, Kakashi ordered his team to start warming up with some light jogging in around the field that they were situated in followed up by stretching every part of their bodies.

"The first bit of training is high intensity interval training. The three of you will be rotating through different drills with small one minute breaks in between. The first exercise will be weighted sprinting. You will have weights which you will be wearing and then you will have to sprint this 50m track back and forth twice.

The second one will be tire lifting and since I don't have a tire here for you three, you will have to use this. "As soon as he finished saying this, Kakashi went through the hand seals and used a rudimentary Doton ninjutsu and created a piece of training equipment.

Getting back to what he was talking about before, Kakashi continued on. "Finally the last exercise that you will be doing will be weighted push ups. I will make a similar slab of rock that you will have to hold on your back using the tree walking exercise.

I expect to see you all giving your all and not stop until you can't physically do one more. Use your teammates as motivation. If you see them continuing on despite how hard it is, then that means that you don't stop unless you want them looking down at you. This is as much a team building exercise as it is improving your own individual skills."

With all of that finally being said, the three students that made up Team Seven got to work. Hinata started off with the weighted sprints. Sasuke had the weighed push ups and Naruto tackled the tire press.

**2 Hours Later**

It was not the running when you couldn't run any more that was the worst part of the training. It was not doing one more push up when you thought that if you did another, you would collapse. It was not the fear of having the weight of the large rock fall on top of you when you were doing the tire press which was the worst bit.

The worst part was the walk home from the training. Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke didn't think anything of it when they had to start walking home down the steep hill after their workout. The trio of genin shinobi instantly made sure to fear it though as the pain was seeping into their memory banks'

For the silver haired man watching all of this happen, he finally understood the pleasure that Minato-sensei had when he was a Join-sensei. Putting your students through pure torture was just so damned fun!

Admittedly, he was very impressed with the intensity that his students were showing during the exercises. When they were doing the HIIT, there was never once a sign that they were not giving one hundred per cent effort. Even when they were sweating enough to fill up a large glass, all three students continued to give maximal output to the cause of getting faster, stronger, better.

The sweat was pouring off of the three genin students enough that they could easily fill up a small drink bottle full of their sweat. By this point in the training, Hinata had made a very bold move on her part… even if neither Naruto nor Sasuke thought anything of it. They gave their teammate a glance and then went back to their training which was much more important than Hinata taking off a jacket.

Seeing the dismissal of something which she had been building up as something hugely oppressing, it made her feel like a complete numpty. Why in the blue blazes she made it into a big deal was something that neither Sasuke nor Naruto cared about.

Since she was so sweaty thanks to the training, Hinata didn't want to make her jacket sopping wet. Not only that but she didn't want to possibly pass out due to the stress that the combination of the heat and exercise was putting her under.

When they got back to their safe haven of Tsunami's house, all three genin promptly sat down, vowing to not get up for a damn long time! Deciding to throw his students a bone, Kakashi got each of them a glass of water. They were content with their positions on the couch until one sentence was uttered. "Lunch is ready, come and get it!" once team seven heard that food was now ready for them, they realised just how much they needed to fill their stomachs.

Hinata was the first person who barely managed to get up from the comfortable position so that she could go and get some lunch. Not wanting to be outdone by a girl, both Naruto and Sasuke got up with much difficulty and headed for the kitchen. Watching all of this unfold, Kakashi couldn't help but giggle at what was happening in front of him.

More so than before, the three genin that made up Team Seven stockpiled their plates with tons of food. Tsunami was only happy to provide the team with heap of food once they were training to become stronger and needed it to grow. Considering the stories that she had heard from her father about ninjas, a side effect of eating a lot of food was something that she could easily live with if it meant keeping her loved ones alive.

**Later**

Once everything was done in terms of eating, Kakashi specifically asked Naruto if he could speak to him in private. Having a few things in mind himself that he wanted to ask sensei, the blonde haired boy obliged. For Sasuke and Hinata, they were annoyed that they weren't apart of the conversation as they were curious as to what the two were about to talk about. In the end though, they respected their sensei and Naruto's privacy enough to not bother spying on them.

Judging them to be far enough way that not even Hinata with her Byakugan could read his lips, the eldest ninja in the group decided to speak up. "Now Naruto-kun, do you have any guesses as to why you now have a bloodline?"

"Well not really, all I know is that it originates from Kirigakure because the hunter ninja said so. Maybe my parents left that place once the bloodline purges started taking place but ended up dying during the Kyubi attack on Konoha." He wasn't going to get up the hopes that this new discovery would lead him to find out who his parents were. He had been hurt far too many times before when trying to find out that it wasn't worth it.

That and the fact that he had gone on this far by himself that finding out who they were would do nothing for his current situation.

The moment that Naruto mentioned his parents, Kakashi knew that the conversation was treading on dangerous waters. It was best that he steered it in a different direction. "Okay, Now I know this is something that you might not like but I think that you should hide your bloodline to absolutely everyone. We can't let anyone know about it. Not even the Hokage."

"What! Why is that? Using this would be a great advantage for me in fights! No one would be able to fight me close range." That was definitely true if Naruto ever upgraded his taijutsu. The Shikotsumyaku was hell on earth fighting. He had firsthand experience in that department.

"Naruto, there are things that you don't understand since you are very new to the world of shinobi. Once someone found out that you were the last remaining person with the dead bone pulse bloodline, there would be countless amounts of people after your head. Not only would these be external enemies but there would also be internal enemies for you to worry about. You would never be able to let your guard down as someone would want to get something from you. That is the brutal truth.

Konoha as a whole has done as much as they could to prevent the rest of the world from knowing that you are the Kyubi jinchuuriki. If someone were to find out that you are both the sole user of the dead bone pulse as well as the host of the nine tails, you would be on every shinobi outside of Konoha's hit list.

Despite the fact that you are strong for a genin, you are nowhere near strong enough to be able to defend yourself against people on my level or above that would be coming after your head as well as your semen." It was a bit awkward talking to your sensei's son about bodily fluids but it was something that had to be stated. There was definitely more than one thing that people would want from him after all.

Blushing at the last little bit that his sensei had said, Naruto started to think things over. "But wouldn't telling the Hokage allow me to get specialised training for my bloodline making me stronger?"

"The truth Naruto is that whilst the Hokage would be able to help you get stronger and it would be in the best interests of the village for you to get stronger, he would have to certain people about your genetics. Those certain people that he would tell are people that I would not trust for the life of me.

Unlike the Hokage who has the village's best interests in mind, I am doing this for your interests alone." This was something that Naruto was shocked to hear. Not the part about the Hokage but more so the part where it concerned his sensei. The words were struggling to form in his mouth.

"But but but, wouldn't it be a breach of conduct if you didn't report to the old man about this? I'm just an orphan who is the Kyubi jinchuuriki, why would a highly respected former ANBU commander be willing to risk their reputation for someone like me?" Some of the insecurities that Naruto tried to hide so much on a daily basis were slightly coming to the surface.

Dropping down into a squat position, Kakashi stared directly at his blonde haired student. "Despite what you may think Naruto-kun, there are some of us out there who do care a lot about you. Because of politics and laws, we aren't allowed to actively help you. I was barely luckily enough to become your sensei and I had to fight quite hard for this. I want to see you become the shinobi that your potential allows you to become."

Touched at the heartfelt speech, Naruto didn't really have any idea how to respond to that. "Is-is it to do with this?" As the blonde haired boy said this, he looked and pointed down to his stomach.

Looking to the side a bit because like Naruto, he wasn't that good with situations like this, Kakashi spoke up. "Predominantly that Naruto but there are also other things such as your heritage." When his sensei said this, Naruto thought that he was referring to his heritage as a member of the Uzumaki clan. He had no idea what his sensei was actually referring to.

Trying to lighten up the mood and make his sensei's son happier, Kakashi continued on. "It's not as if that you are never going to use it, I can still train you in using it as a secret. If things ever become a life or death scenario, you can use it to save your teammates but you must remember to tie up any loose ends so the word doesn't get out about your bloodline."

Nodding at what his sensei said, Naruto realised something as the words played over in his mind. "Wait a minute sensei, both Hinata and Sasuke have seen my bloodline. What is going to happen to them. There's no way I'm going to hurt them to stop this from spreading."

Smiling underneath his mask at what his student was displaying in terms of team bonding, Kakashi instantly spoke up. "Maa, I'm not suggesting anything like that. We will just make them swear to not tell anyone else. I think that they are trustworthy enough to not tell anyone don't you." There was a bit of a delayed reaction from Naruto but he eventually nodded.

"Also Naruto, since no one has ever had this bloodline in Konoha, there is no one that can teach you how to use it." Letting that sink into his for a moment, Kakashi watched the features on his student's face change. "That being said, I have a friend who I trust with my life that would be willing to help you. I can vouch when I say that he will not mention anything to the Hokage and he will help you with your bloodline."

"Sweet! Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto was decidedly more social with his sensei and respected him even more now that he was seeing the efforts that he was willing to go to for his students.

"There is one condition though, when you are around him, you have to say some of the things that I say, it will totally piss him off and it will be hilarious!" this was the first time that Naruto had seen his sensei in such a way but he had to admit, it was amusing, if a little bit scary.

"Okay, done deal sensei." _Should I tell him that this man is certifiably insane? … Nah I'll let Naruto-kun find out himself hehehe. _

"Naruto there are some more serious things that we have to discuss, I think that you should tell your teammates about you having the Kyubi sealed inside of you." Kakashi said unsurely. Admittedly, he wasn't sure what type of reaction but he was fairly confident that it wasn't going to be all that positive.

The happy expression on the face of Naruto changed into a deadpan look. "No." the answer was short, simple and to the point. In the eyes of Naruto, there was nothing else to discuss on the topic. He didn't want to potentially scare off the first friends that he had made with something as big of a deal as the Kyubi. Unfortunately for him, the topic was not finished as far as Kakashi was concerned.

"Naruto, you know that they are going to find out sooner or later right. Hinata even saw you with her Byakugan when you were using its chakra." Kakashi said as he tried to reason with his student.

"The answer is still no." It was here that the deadpan expression morphed into a frown as it was clear that he had no intention of continuing this conversation.

Guessing what was causing the root of this issue, Kakashi tried a different approach. "Naruto I know this must be a sore subject, but is it not better that they hear it first from you, rather than come to other conclusion

There was a sigh that came from Naruto. "I just want to enjoy the friendship whilst it lasts even if that isn't very long." The dejected look was painful for Kakashi to look at.

"Do you really think that lowly of Sasuke and Hinata that they would abandon you when they found out?" In hindsight, this probably wasn't the best thing that Kakashi could have said, especially given the reaction that from Naruto."

"Given the track record that I have keeping friends I would say that yes, I reckon that they would request to change teams. Look Kakashi-_san_, can we just drop this topic? I just want to enjoy having friends while it lasts and it's not as if I am going to be able to make friends once everyone else finds out about the Kyubi.

I am bound to live a life without love because no one would want to be with the Kyubi jinchuuriki. The moment that I had the Kyubi sealed inside of me, I was consigned to live a life of loneliness." Hearing the morbid outlook on that Naruto had on life was like a knife straight through his heart. _Kami Minato-sensei, we really have failed your son. I am truly sorry._

"Naruto, promise me when you say that you won't think about life like that anymore. Things will get better trust me." There was a dubious look on the face of Naruto when he heard this. "If anything, as fucked up as it is, it's not as if things can get any worse. Everyone in life deserves happiness and just because you are a jinchuuriki is no exception. I promise I will always be there for you.

I still think that you should tell Hinata and Sasuke. I know that will not look at you any different than what they do now. Hinata is way too kind to do something like that and despite you and Sasuke not admitting it, I know that the two of you are friends. He wouldn't abandon you. If it ever comes to the point where they do that, I will have them kicked off of the team and take you under a solo apprenticeship.

Hearing the conviction and the absolute faith that his sensei had in his other teammates was inspiring even if he didn't exactly hold the same amount of faith. Years of hope only leading to disappointment certainly changed the way that you looked at life.

Grateful to the words of his sensei when he heard that he would stick with him through thick and thin, Naruto came to a conclusion. He wasn't expecting the result Kakashi-sensei was, but in the end, it was better to get rid of his friends before he formed a bond with them which would cause even more pain.

"Fine…"

With everything being said, both Naruto and Kakashi left to go back to the rest of their teammates. Naruto was walking as if he was a cripple patient. Eventually, the duo made their way back to the house that they were temporarily residing in.

Plonking down on the couch which Sasuke was sitting on the opposite side, the moment that he did that, the Uchiha clan heir's curiosity couldn't help but get the better of him.

"So what did you two talk about?" As much as he tried to play the indifferent card, Naruto could easily see right through him.

"Oh you know, a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B." the irritation was immediately shown on the face of Sasuke when he heard this. He was about to say something but Naruto cut him off.

Naruto dropped his voice to a mere whisper. "I'll tell ya later but not near the others, it's classified shit." Accepting the answer that he was given, Sasuke started wondering just what it was that Kakashi had spoken to Naruto in private about.

**The next day**

"Okay, come on kiddies!" Kakashi stated to his students. The looks on their faces made the silver haired man giggle. They thought that the pain that they were feeling now was bad thanks to the intense training the day before. He was going to laugh even more when they found out the second days of DOMS was the worst.

Eventually, Team Seven had made their way to the place which they had unofficially dubbed as their training ground.

"You will get much more accustomed to the pain that your body is in after a few more weeks. Not only that, but your recovery time will improve as it gets used to the strain it gets put under." The three genin that made up Team Seven nodded happily at this. They're bodies were screaming out in pain due to all of the newfound muscles that they didn't know that their body even had.

"You three agreed to hell on earth so we will be continuing your training despite you three being sore. Instead of physical training, all three of you will be doing charka training today.

Whilst we are in Nami no Kuni, you will have a relaxed training compared to what it is going to be like in Konoha. There, we will do our missions for the day and then move onto training. Back in Konoha, you will have a three day split with physical training, chakra training and finally studying. Each Sunday will be a free day for you to do whatever you want.

Finally, since you are training with such intensity, your bodies are going to need the right foods to fuel your energy supplies. When we get back to Konoha, we are going to completely overhaul your eating habits and get you eating foods which are much better for you."

Hearing the plan for the future training that they're sensei had, despite the obvious hard work that it was going to take, they were giddy at the prospect of how much they were going to improve.

Seeing all of this, Kakashi was impressed at the fact that the commitment in the eyes of his students had not wavered despite him telling them just how much training they were going to be doing. The simple fact was that this wasn't just about them getting stronger for their own desires.

Being a shinobi wasn't just a job. It was a career which had nothing that you could turn back to if you failed without extensive training. You had to be able to set yourself up for life in case of the fact that you got an injury that prevented you from going out on missions. Completing C-rank missions was definitely not something that was going to allow you to be financially comfortable. You had to take the A-ranked missions on a frequent basis if you wanted to own your own home in a reasonable amount of time.

His internal musing over, Kakashi continued speaking. "Since today is all going to be about chakra training, you three are going to be going back to your elemental manipulation. Naruto and Hinata; grab some leaves and work on increasing your efficiency and skill with your respective techniques." Nodding at the words of their sensei, the duo went off to do their thing.

Sasuke wondered had an inkling about why he was being singled out. He didn't like it though when he saw that Naruto and Hinata were further in front of him in a certain area.

"Since you have a wind element Sasuke, you are going to have to learn the basics of converting your chakra into your element before you even start thinking about using a Fuuton ninjutsu. Don't worry though as this will come much quicker to you than what it did when you learnt the Katon version of it."

After hearing the words of his sensei, Sasuke nodded. He was giddy as he knew that he was finally getting the training that he needed. Itachi was much closer in his sights and he was confident that he wasn't wasting his time.

"You will need to shape your chakra into two opposing blades, sharpening them against one another, the friction that this provides will be the medium in which you cut the leaf." It was slightly over the top of Sasuke's head with the way his sensei worded it but he got the general gist of the idea. "Here, I will give you a demonstration."

Hearing those words from his sensei, Sasuke, as quickly as possible channelled chakra into his eyes. The results from this were that his eyes now had the colour red in them. His sharingan was blaring at full force. 2 tomoes in his right eye, one in his left.

"I am only letting you use your sharingan since it is your first time but you will do it for everything you learn. There have been far too many Uchiha in the past that used it religiously and it became their downfall once they got into a situation where they couldn't use it. The same goes for both Hinata and Naruto as this will be a rule that the three of you follow." It was not something that Sasuke wanted to hear but he would nonetheless follow it. Kakashi obviously had experience in this so he decided to listen to the man tasked with making him into a stronger shinobi.

With that being said, Kakashi demonstrated the basics of changing your chakra into that of wind natured chakra. Since he was a lightning user by default, he only knew the basics of it and therefore had a limited Fuuton jutsu repertoire. Thanks to the sharingan, this was made much easier.

From that point on, the training by Team Seven went on without a hitch. All three of Kakashi's students gave it their all almost to the point where they were hit with chakra exhaustion. Due to the fact that Hinata had the greatest control over chakra compared to her two male teammates, she completed the beginner training of her element before either Naruto or Sasuke.

As one last hurrah, Hinata used the **Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu) **and watched how it took shape into a sphere. The amount of damage this produced when condensed into a ball was much higher than her previous attempts.

Spurred on by the success of Hinata, both Naruto and Sasuke willed themselves to go on further, not wanting to feel inferior to their female teammate. Kakashi quickly put a stop to this however. There was no point over training to the point where you couldn't do anything the next day. That would make your training two steps forward, one step back.

With Team Seven about to head back to Tsunami's house, Naruto stood still, thinking that there was no better time than now to get this over and done with. "Guys… there is something that I want to tell you."

Sasuke was the first to respond to the statement from Naruto. "Is this what Kakashi talked to you about yesterday?"

"Among other things, yes." There was a hitch in the voice of Naruto. It was now or never as the moment of judgement was in full force. The blonde haired boy just hoped that Kakashi-sensei was right.

"What do you know about the night of when the Kyubi attack Konoha?" Naruto said and after this, he swallowed a bit of saliva.

Again, Sasuke was the first person out of the two to speak up in response to the question of the blonde haired boy. "Admittedly, not much apart from the fact that the Yondaime Hokage killed the beast."

Nodding to himself, Naruto prepared as he was going to reveal hints to the truth of that night. "A Bijuu which is what the Kyubi is, can't be killed, well it can't die." The expressions of confusion appeared on the faces of Hinata and Sasuke. They had no idea what their estranged teammate was referring to.

During this period of time, none of them realised that Kakashi had hidden himself from his three students.

"When it is killed it reforms itself since it is solely made out of chakra." In hindsight, Naruto probably shouldn't have worded it like this.

"Is the Kyubi going to come and attack us again? This time we don't have Yondaime-sama!" Hinata screeched and hyperventilated in an uncharacteristic move from the little girl.

"First time you haven't ever stuttered." Sasuke offhandedly commented. The moment that this was said, Hinata instantly drew back into her coat. She was embarrassed; that was standard. What wasn't though was the pride that she was feeling because of Sasuke's statShe did indeed complete a sentence without stuttering once! That was definitely marked improvement.

Ignoring the little milestone for Hinata, Naruto continued on from where he left off. "As I was saying, the Kyubi can't be killed. That begs the question how did he kill it?" The question was rhetorical, both Hinata and Sasuke could sense this and thus, they waited for the answer from Naruto.

"He Sealed it." This brought numerous thoughts along the lines of what did he seal it into and where did he seal it?

"There is no inanimate container that can hold back the power of the Kyubi as it will eventually break free. Not only that but if it is sealed inside a human, the strain on the chakra coils will be so great that the human dies, thus allowing the Kyubi to be free once more.

"Ano, where a-are you g-going with this Naruto-kun?" The polite girl questioned. She wondered exactly why this was important. Was there something that Naruto wasn't telling them?

Sasuke however, the gears were grinding inside his mind as he had been given a crash course on the Bijuu when he was a child. The reasoning behind this was just in case he became the next person after his great grandfather Madara. He had a sinking feeling that he knew where Naruto was going with this and it was an answer that explained so much about the blonde haired boy's childhood.

"Sealing the Kyubi into an adult was impossible but sealing it into a child was entirely possible because the chakra pathways are still developing and can accommodate the presence of the Bijuu." Whilst she was not smart like Sakura or Shikamaru, Hinata was by no means dumb. Being able to piece things together with the added information of Naruto's birthdate, she was able to come to the conclusion that the Kyubi was sealed inside of her teammate.

The widening of her eyes was enough to let Naruto know that she had figured it out. The same could be said for Sasuke although his reaction was not as large as Hinata's.

Tentatively, Hinata spoke up. "D-d-did the-they s-s-seal the k-k-Kyubi in-inside of you Naruto-kun?" The stutter came back full force as Hinata wasn't sure she wanted to hear the confirmation to her question.

"Yes… they did, I can understand if you don't want to be my friend any more. It was nice having one whilst it lasted." Hearing the usually exuberant and full of life Naruto so morose and down in the dumps, it was a dagger to the heart of Hinata. This was obviously why her father didn't want her associating with the boy and no doubt the reason why Naruto didn't have any friends or anyone to talk to at the academy.

Since Naruto was looking down at the ground, he didn't see the approaching Hinata. His head did turn up immediately when he felt the soft contact coming from the girl as she gave him a hug. It was brief but it was enough to convey the message that she didn't hate him.

"Just because you have the Kyubi sealed inside of you Naruto-kun, it doesn't change who you are and that is my friend. No matter what you and Sasuke-kun will be my friends because we are a team!" The determination and conviction coming through the young girl was shining through. Combine that with the smile that was on her face and right now, she was the definition of her name; A sunny place.

"Th-th-thankyou Hinata-chan, you don't know how much this means to me." The blonde haired boy stated with a tear coming down the side of his face. It was the first time that he had cried since a very long time ago. During this, Naruto reinitiated the hug. The gesture completely surprised Hinata but she returned the hug.

Looking on at the situation, the Uchiha clan heir couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly at what had unfolded. "Is that all?" Sasuke questioned with his trademark superior smirk etched onto his face.

Getting broken out of his revere, Naruto quickly wiped the tear from his eye, hoping that Sasuke didn't see it. Too bad for him the genin did indeed see it. "What was that fuck face." Naruto angrily shouted in retort. He had just had a weight lifted off of his shoulders and Sasuke had the gall to say something like that!

Hinata was definitely appalled with the language that Naruto was using. Despite the confidence of hers' rapidly growing, it wasn't enough to get in between the two boys' argument, especially after the last time where they both lashed out at her.

"Even if you have the Kyubi inside of you, you're still the cry baby dead last."

"Cheers cunt!" Naruto responded just as quickly. Whilst the words might have been harsh, the bro-ness between Naruto and Sasuke was there for Hinata to see. She could see that Sasuke didn't really mean what he said. It was just that this was the easiest way for him to express that he was still willing to be Naruto's friend despite the Kyubi.

Kakashi who was watching the scene unfold couldn't be happier with how it progressed. He was finally witnessing the true coming together of his team and it was a proud moment for him. Despite him not being a parent, he felt that this was something akin to watching your child take their first steps.


	6. Bridging the gap

Saying goodbye to Tsunami and all of her hospitality was hard for Naruto. She was the first person ever to happily cook food for him on a consistent basis. She also provided him with a roof over his head and a bead to sleep on. It was a surreal experience for Naruto and it gave him an insight into what a mother goes to for her children, even if he was not one. It made him wonder whether or not if his mum was alive, would she have done the same thing for him?

Saying goodbye to Tazuna and Inari though, well that was a heck of a lot easier. First impressions of someone that Naruto stuck with and it was very hard to change his impression of you once it had been made. The obnoxious little kid was just that in the eyes of Naruto despite the change in personality ever since the death of Gato. Inari had even stated that he had tried to rally up some of the villagers to help in the fight but his mother wouldn't let him leave.

The blonde haired boy honestly didn't like all of the attention he was getting from Inari. It was to the point that he now had a second shadow behind him at all times except for when he was training.

Tazuna wasn't that much of a change from before the death of Gato. Like before where he was excessively drinking because he was depressed, he was now excessively drinking because he was beyond happy at the death of Gato. It was making him hard to deal with and even Hinata was getting tired of the man and that was saying a lot.

With everything all said and done though, team seven was pleased that they had gone to wave to complete the mission when they could have chosen not to. Through the trials and tribulations, Team Seven had finally come of age. They were no longer a team of champions but a champion team.

**Back in Konoha**

Giving his team the time off when he went to do the mission report, Kakashi gave his team two days off to relax from their latest mission. The silver haired Jonin went to the office to give his report on what had happened. The tongue lashing that he received was something that he knew was coming and in his own mind, completely deserved.

In all honesty, the Sandaime Hokage had a serious thought to remove Kakashi from the position as sensei of Team Seven. He changed his mind however when he saw Kakashi beg for a second chance. The man promised that he wouldn't do something again that was so irresponsible. Deciding to give the former ANBU captain one last chance. If there wasn't improvement by the end of the next mission, he would remove Kakashi and put in someone else.

Team Seven was far too important for the future of Konoha to let it be jeopardized by incompetence.

Thanking his lucky stars, Kakashi exited the meeting and headed back home with the S-ranked cheque in his hand. After all, battling an B-ranked member of the famed Hyoton bloodline limit family and the demon of the mist was no easy feat. This was especially true when you had to fight a very large amount of bandits' right after with no time to recover.

It was unfortunate for the three genin that made up Team Seven as on their mission record. It was officially going down as a B-rank mission. The political backlash as well as attention that the trio would get if it was known that three genin completed an S-ranked mission was huge.

In the end, this benefitted Hinata the most. As a member of the Hyuga clan, she had to pay taxes to the running of the clan based on her missions. Considering the mission was listed as a B-ranked mission on her file, she was paying considerably less than what she would have if the real ranking came to light. She had a lot more pocket money at her disposal.

Out of all the people that enjoyed this the most, it was Naruto. Being an orphan living on not much at all, it was definitely a welcomed change. No longer would he have to scrounge around trying to put together enough cash to live have a roof to sleep under.

New kunai, shuriken and ninja equipment was going to be the first thing that he purchased. Next on the list was a whole new range of clothing as the stuff that he had was getting a little small on him. That was thanks to the great cooking of tsunami as it had kicked off his growth spurt which was behind a few other kids at the academy.

Naruto had decided to save the rest for general expenses that came with living in one of the highest cost of living places in all of the elemental nations.

$15000 went a long way for a street rat struggling to make ends meet.

**Next day**

Despite Kakashi telling his students that they had the day off and that there was no more training for the next two days, all three students had agreed to meet up and continue their training. None of them wanted to fall behind one another and feel useless. Naturally, Kakashi found out about this and he was filled with pride as he watched his students train without them knowing about him being there.

Eventually, the 'relaxation' days passed and it was now time for Team Seven to get back to training. The first two days of said training passed without a hitch. They struggled but did not complain; none of them wanted to be _that guy_.

The third day was the day where training it really changed. "One thing that you will learn as a shinobi is that you never stop learning things. You will forever be finding out something new about the shinobi or civilian world that will change your view on things.

What we will be focusing on is nutrition." There was a bit of a groan from Sasuke as he wondered just how this would be helpful.

"There have been studies that if you have a very healthy diet compared to just eating whatever, your performance as a shinobi will increase by 35%" the Uchiha clan heir instantly backtracked the thoughts that he previously had. Hearing that, he made sure that he would change his diet up to the optimum level. He knew that he needed to do everything to be able to beat Itachi.

"Ideally you should be eating smaller meals more frequently rather than eating large meals three times a day. You will feel much better and you will have a lo more energy throughout the day if you do this."

Being a perfectionist who didn't leave any detail uncovered, Kakashi delved into lecture mode and started telling his students all about what types of foods that they should be eating due to the nutritional value and when they should be eating them.

"Since you three are young, you should get all of your macro nutrients from whole foods rather than supplements but all three of you should get some supplements. I have a friend who is a civilian focused on bodybuilding but all of the advice and products he sells are great for shinobi of all levels. Not only do they help in you building muscle but they also help in shortening the time needed for muscle recovery.

Naruto, you in particular should get extra calcium tablets as they are the mineral that help create and strengthen bones." All three students took this knowledge and stored it away for further use. If they could drink something that made them better shinobi, then they were all for it.

The results from this were immediate. Each of the three students noticed gains in the muscle growth department when they felt individual muscles. As expected, thanks to the improved diet and the help of the Kyubi no Kitsune, Naruto was the one who made the most improvement out of the lot of them. He was still substantially smaller than Sasuke but he was no looked like he was eight years old.

**With Kakashi**

Getting up early, whilst doable was not something that the silver haired man liked to do all that much. For the sake of his student though, he would get up early so as to introduce Naruto to his 'eternal rival'.

"Yosh Kakashi, your flames of youth burn brightly this lovely morning. You don't normally get up at this fine hour." The man in the green jumpsuit with massive eye brows said loudly. Naruto was barely opened his eyes as he was incredibly tired but even he could tell this man was a weirdo.

"Gai, I have something serious to tell you so can you lower your voice." It wasn't a question, merely a statement. It was the same voice that Kakashi used when he was on duty in the ANBU Special Forces. Gai instantly recognized it and lowered his voice substantially, this coincided with the change into a more calm and collected persona.

"What I tell you has to be considered above even the S-class rank. You have to promise me that you will never tell a single soul about what I am going to tell you next. This includes the Hokage." There was a hint of pleading in the voice of Kakashi and it was something that the Elite Jonin noticed, not that he was going to comment on it.

Wondering what it could be that was so important that Kakashi didn't want to tell the Hokage about this as well as the fact that there was a genin by his side, the spandex wearing ninja spoke up. "You have my word Kakashi. I will never tell anyone about this conversation and will deny it ever happened if anyone asks me." Maito Gai stated in a completely serious tone of voice that left no room to the imagination.

"Thanks Gai, you have no idea how much this means to me." Kakashi stated with relief etched onto his face, even if the mask covered it. Naruto, for his part was weirded out by this, he had never seen his sensei act this way. The lengths that his sensei was going for him was something that he didn't know how to say thank you for.

"Naruto has unlocked a bloodline limit that dead bone pulse bloodline of the Kaguya clan." The shock was evident on the face of Gai as soon as his eternal rival said this; he turned his attention back to Naruto. Said boy was still struggling to wake himself up as this was the first time he had gotten up so early.

"I see." This was all that Gai said as he lost himself in his own thoughts. "So you want me to help him with his taijutsu as his bloodline is taijutsu based? I will happily do so. To see the flames of youth in one so young burn brightly for taijutsu!" the last part of Gai's statement got progressively louder as he could not contain his enthusiasm.

"Huh, you say something?" Naruto wearily questioned. It looked as if he was stoned although he had not touched anything of the sort.

If the shock at finding out that Naruto had the Shikotsumyaku was bad enough, then Gai almost had a heart attack when he heard such words coming from his newfound student. "Curse you and passing on your hip and cool mannerisms to your student Kakashi!"

"Wait, what?" Naruto questioned, still not paying any attention whatsoever to those around of him.

Bending down on one knee, Gai stared into the eyes of young Naruto. "Naruto, I swear as the leaf village's taijutsu master that I will make you into a splendid taijutsu specialising ninja. Although you will have stiff competition from my prized student Lee-kun, I am sure that you can challenge for my title in years to come!" The bright smile showing of his pearly whites was something that freaked Naruto the fuck out. How could someone have such white teeth?

And so it began, Naruto and Gai working on a completely new taijutsu style based on the fact that Naruto could use it with and without the activation of his bloodline.

**One month later**

During the past month, Naruto's taijutsu without the use of his bloodline had improved through the roof. Building a style from the ground up that incorporated all aspects of the Shikotsumyaku was tough going. Elbows, heels, knees and pals were all the focus as Naruto had found out that they were the easiest parts of his body that he could produce his internal weapons. It was not a coincidence that these parts of the body were able to generate the highest amount of kinetic force.

Neither Naruto nor Gai had come up with a proper name for the taijutsu style and they had decided that they would leave it until they thought that it was complete before they named it.

When it came time to spar against his two teammates, Naruto could now match Sasuke as long as the Uchiha clan heir did not use his sharingan. The moment that Sasuke used his Dojutsu, the tides turned and Naruto was outclassed. The prediction power of Sasuke's eyes was just too much for Naruto.

Whilst he was able to almost compete on the same level as Sasuke, Naruto was still nowhere near being able to go one on one with Hinata and not feel completely second class. The Jyuuken was a hard counter to all of the defensive properties that his bloodline provided. Just a light tap on his on his arm and the chakra went through his skin and hit a tenketsu point.

The signs of improvement though were there for all to see and everyone could see that Naruto was catching up quickly in terms of taijutsu.

That would normally have angered Sasuke to no end but he was slightly content with it. Kakashi was developing the team with roles in mind. He was the mid ranged fighter and therefore his speciality was not required to be taijutsu. Sasuke made up for this with increasing his ninjutsu repertoire. The **Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great breakthrough)** was the perfect jutsu for him as it synergised well with Hinata's fire release and it also allowed him to deflect incoming projectiles. One of the things that he was currently working on with the jutsu was the speed in which he could switch from using the fire jutsu that he knew to the wind jutsu. This was just in case he was in a situation and he couldn't call on the support of Hinata. Of course, there was no contest when it came to the size of the combination that Sasuke alone could make compared to when he had the help of Hinata.

With the beginner stages of the elemental manipulation training completed, it allowed Sasuke to learn his only offensive move for the wind element. That was the Fuuton: Renkudan no jutsu **(Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet jutsu.) **

Being the long ranged fighter of the team, ninjutsu wasn't the only thing that Sasuke had to be proficient at for the sake of his teammates. His abilities throwing kunai, shuriken and his wire techniques had drastically improved after he had started practising with his sharingan.

Unlike most members of the clan getting over dependant on the Dojutsu, Sasuke was thriving when he wasn't using it. Getting used to the prediction powers of it, he was able to take an educated guess, albeit nowhere near as accurately compared to when he had his sharingan activated where opponents would go.

As if all that wasn't enough of an improvement in a short space of time, Sasuke had started dabbling into the use of genjutsu. He knew just how powerful it could be; unfortunately this was firsthand experience but nevertheless, it was experience. His sharingan made learning how to apply genjutsu much easier as the hand seals as well as looking into someone's eyes made it a guaranteed application of the jutsu.

His testing target for his genjutsu was none other than his female teammate Hinata. Since she had the Byakugan, she was much more ready when it came to dispelling genjutsus unlike her teammate Naruto. She could see through them. This did two things, not only did it allow Sasuke to improve his genjutsu to the point that if it would work on Hinata, then it would work on almost anybody, but it also gave Hinata a lot of practice in knowing what to look for when a genjutsu was applied.

The blue haired girl had been improving a lot and it definitely showed in not just genjutsu detection and dispelling. Ever since the moment that Team Seven came together, her confidence had skyrocketed. She could now hold a conversation with Naruto and / or Sasuke without once stuttering. The benefits that came with this was that the duo got to see Hinata smile more often as she felt more comfortable around her teammates.

The confidence that came from this helped her as a shinobi as she was more assertive. This came across none more so in her taijutsu as it was the final piece that she needed which couldn't be taught. Going from drawing with Naruto and Sasuke to completely outclassing and winning within a matter of minutes was a drastic improvement that no one had been expecting. If all this wasn't enough, the extra taijutsu sparring on a regular basis help Hinata refine her technique and iron out the kinks. There were less flaws and the Hyuga clan heir made less mistakes overall resulting in making it harder for her defences to be breached.

Not only that but it gave her the confidence to try things for the first time. Just like marijuana was the gateway drug to heavier drugs, the **Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)** was the gateway Katon ninjutsu for Hinata to fan her flames as a shinobi.

She completed this jutsu rather quickly. From there she moved onto the move which was synonymous with coming of age in the Uchiha clan. Hinata was keen to keep this jutsu a secret as she knew that there would be some form of backlash from her father. To round out her Katon ninjutsus, Hinata had learnt the **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire jutsu.) **It rounded out her jutsu arsenal as it allowed her to have a multi shot long range attack where as her other jutsus were all one chance moves which took a large amount of chakra to use.

During all of this time, Hinata was constantly progressing in her elemental manipulation. Her sensei Kakashi had a vision for her taijutsu to reach unparalleled levels but that wouldn't be for a long time. She needed to practice a lot before she was capable of using her fire natured chakra the same as her Jyuuken.

Unlike Sasuke who was looking to the direct future, Naruto was looking past that when it came to his training. It showed in the way he was trying to reinvent his shinobi style. Well actually, he was trying to come up with his own way. Hinata had her taijutsu and her eyesight and Sasuke was a jack of all trades, master of none but what did Naruto have?

He had a bloodline limit that he wasn't going to be using for a long time until he was strong enough to fend off most of his enemies by himself. Creating a completely new taijutsu style was definitely going a long way in terms of creating his shinobi style from the ground up.

He and Gai-sensei had worked on the foundation of the new taijutsu style to the point where Naruto was now able to match Sasuke's respective level of taijutsu in terms technique. They hadn't bothered to even start any form of special moves as it was far more important to get down a solid foundation before doing anything extra.

During this period of time, Naruto hadn't realised just what Kakashi had meant when he said that Gai was a little bit weird. Sure he meant well but he scared Naruto the fuck out with his ridiculous levels of enthusiasm and his borderline obsession with the phrase "Flames of youth!"

It took him a few days on top of his first impression of Gai but Naruto realised why his sensei would say to act like a miniature Kakashi. It was damned fun pissing off his sensei and watching his hilarious (laughing at him not with him) outbursts.

Not only had his taijutsu dramatically improved but the amount of jutsus that Naruto could now use against an enemy in combat and feel comfortable with was much larger. When he left the academy, Naruto only felt as if he had one jutsu that he could rely on in a bind.

He was even the only member of Team Seven that knew a B-ranked ninjutsu. The blonde haired boy knew that this was not enough though as he wanted to become the best of the best. He wanted to be looked at like the Shodaime Hokage and Madara Uchiha are looked at thirty years into the future.

Whilst all of Team Seven were making individual improvements as ninja, they were also making great gains as a team. Their rigorous regiment of training, eating properly at the right times and taking supplements, quick, noticeable gains had started appearing.

With both Naruto and Sasuke, you could see an outline of a six pack if they took their shirts off. The same could be said about a fair amount of definition in the chest department. With Sasuke having started off with a better body due to his training, he hadn't made as many gains as Naruto.

Naruto was the slowest out of the three genin before their boot camp but now, after the one month, Naruto had surpassed Hinata in speed and he was now on the same level as Sasuke. This in conjunction with strength increasing, Naruto was well on his way to becoming a powerhouse shinobi.

All that team Seven really needed now was some experience and with the two months before the chunin exams, there was plenty of time for the trio to become ready.

**With Team Seven**

Walking through the gates of Konoha was team Seven. They had bags under their eyes, their bodies were struggling to take them those few extra steps but there smiles on their faces. They had finally completed all of their missions leading up to the chunin exams. There was a wait off of their shoulders as they stepped into home.

Sasuke was walking with a small limp which would have to be checked out at the hospital but apart, team seven had just gone to complete 6 C-ranked missions and even one B-ranked one.

During these missions, it was an unfortunate side effect as the innocence of his Sasuke and Hinata were lost. They had to make their first kills in the heat of battle less they wanted to be killed themselves. The duo could not sleep for several nights straight until their bodies just couldn't take it anymore where they passed out into the land of unconsciousness.

The resulting talk from Kakashi made his students aware that this was something that they would have to do more frequently. Whilst this didn't help them, the advice of remembering what you're fighting for keeps you going through the tough times. It was also at this point that the sensei of Team Seven suggested that they each find some hobbies as they help a lot when it comes to coping from the stress of shinobi life.

For Hinata this wasn't too hard at all as she already had two which were her flower pressing and singing. Sasuke was a bit different in that he was going to start doing something that he hadn't done since the eradication of his family. That was drawing, it was something that he kept on doing as a toddler and never stopped until that fateful night. Naruto on the other hand never had a hobby and never once had a thought of having one.

That changed when he started having visions of the people that he had killed during the wave mission. They kept coming up in his dreams and it scared him the fuck out. The advice of his sensei helped him out and he remembered how he always enjoyed the peace and quiet that reading provided. He hadn't exactly found out his hobby just yet but he was leaning towards that. The suggestion of reading fiction rather than non-fiction was something that he was going to try out.

The positive effects from Naruto being able to sleep better meant that he recovered better after a hard day's training. It meant that the blonde haired boy could go full throttle and still be able to train just as hard the next day.

"Okay kids, you have the rest of today off and tomorrow morning as well. I expect to see you in the afternoon so I can go over some things with you." Nodding at the statement from their sensei, Team Seven waited until they saw Kakashi disappear through the use of a jutsu.

**The next day**

"So where'dya want to go for lunch?" Naruto questioned his two teammates. There was a slight pause as Hinata and Sasuke decided on what they wanted to fill their empty stomachs with. Before going home, Team Seven decided that they would train as a team the next day.

"How about we go for some Ichiraku ramen?" Hinata asked and she knew that the decision had been made when she saw the smile light up the face of her blonde haired friend.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered as he raised his hand in the air. The food was good which was what kept Sasuke from speaking up. The main reason though as to why Team Seven were going there was because of the atmosphere.

Ever since Naruto had told his teammates about the Kyubi sealed inside of him, Hinata and Sasuke noticed the subtle glances and everything that surrounded their teammate. They did not like it one bit how he got treated differently because of something that was out of his control. In their eyes, it was just vilification hiding behind the excuse of justified revenge for what the Kyubi had done. None of which Naruto had ever done to deserve.

This obviously soured their opinions of Konoha as a whole compared to the happy, friendly place that welcomed anyone and everyone.

Ichiraku ramen was a place that did not judge Naruto for anything that the Kyubi had done previously they presented him with the open atmosphere that they presented every other customer. It made the blonde haired boy feel just like everyone else for a few moments.

Naruto being Naruto still had severe trust issues and thus it was why he kept himself a safe distance from the waitress and the chef. After having a large amount of food, Naruto and his two teammates exited the restaurant.

Walking down the street, Hinata saw a bully picking on a kid much younger than himself. Activating her Byakugan out of pure instinct, Hinata noticed that the boy had some weird contraption on his back. There was also the fact that the red haired boy hiding behind the tree had a chakra supply larger than any shinobi she had seen bar Naruto. It even beat the amount that Kakashi had.

Informing her teammates, they decided to take matters into her own hands. "Hey! Put that kid down right now!"

Turning around when he heard the voice, the elder of the two people fighting, he saw that this new person was shorter than him. Feeling empowered by this, he replied in fashion. "Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do if I say no?"

With a smirk on his face, Naruto responded. "Me? Absolutely nothing." A smirk appeared on the face of the foreigner but it was quickly removed. "The ANBU however after you assaulting the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, well there gonna do heaps. Not even the orangutan up there in the tree could save you."

Hearing the rather original insult, Gaara decided that there was no better time than now to reveal himself. When he dropped down onto the ground in front of him, Team Seven noticed the severe looks of fear that his two teammates sent the red head's way.

Turning his head to face his two teammates the 'orangutan' spoke up. "Kankuro, drop the boy. You're an embarrassment to the sand village." The red haired boy stated. The look of contempt that was on his face was palpable. Hearing the order, Kankuro quickly did what was asked of him and let the boy go. Said child quickly ran over to his friends and stayed far away in case there was any form of engagement.

"Hey! You, what's your name?" Sasuke questioned as he was curious as to who this red haired boy was. He could potentially be someone that was worth fighting. Little did Sasuke know just how strong Gaara truly was.

With a slight blush on her face, the eldest out of the trio spoke up. On first glance, she thought the person questioning her was quite cute. "Who me?" there was what she thought was an alluring smile on her face when she said this.

The brutal reality was shown when Sasuke responded. "No, the one with the gourd on his back." There was a defeated expression on the face Temari and her brother Kankuro snickered at what had happened in front of him.

"My name is Sabaku no Gaara." It was short, precise and to the point. It was spoken in the way that both Temari and Kankuro were used to from their younger brother. "I'm also interested in your name."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"And you are…?" Gaara continued on as he stared at the person who had the gall to insult him.

"Naruto Uzumaki." There was a massive grin coming on his face as he realised just who he was talking to. The bingo book entry of the one tail jinchuuriki met this person perfectly. There was finally someone from outside of Konoha that he could test himself against.

With that being said, the trio of ninja hailing from Sunagakure left the area with other agendas for them to attend to. The moment that this happened, the kid that nearly got his ass handed to him, along with his two friends came up to him. Pointing his finger at Naruto, the kid spoke up.

"Hey! I'll let you be my boss!"

Shocked at what was happening in front of him, Naruto turned his head to Sasuke and then to Hinata. Neither one was any help as Sasuke who just smirked at him and started walking away. Hinata just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know what this kid was alluding to.

"Say what?"

"I told you that you are now our new boss!" Konohamaru stated. He didn't see what was so unusual with what he had said.

Getting the general gist that the kid in front of him wanted to be his apprentice, the mind of the blonde haired boy was made up. "No, now get lost kid."

Affronted by this, Konohamaru spoke up. "What? Why's that! Don't you know who I am?"

"I couldn't give a rat's arse who you are. No doubt you are some spoilt little piece of shit that gets everything without working at all for it." It was harsh but if there was one thing that Naruto hated the most, it was people who got things for free without ever doing the hard work.

There were a few tears that were staring to form in the eyes of the kid. In the back of his mind, Naruto was wondering whether or not he was too harsh. In the end he decided that he didn't care.

"W-well maybe that's true but no one ever sees me as myself! It's always just people calling me the honourable grandson of the Hokage! That's why I have to become stronger so that I can take the title of Hokage from him! My tutor is weak but you seemed like a strong guy so I thought that you could give me a shortcut."

"Hahaha, you think that there is some super secret special jutsu that instantly makes you the Hokage right?" The rhetorical question received a nod from the young kid.

"Wow kid you are so deluded! You don't know the first thing about what it means to be the Hokage.

When you want to become Hokage as bad as you want to breathe, then you will become successful. When you are drowning and the only thing that you care about is getting some air; you don't care about no party, you don't care about no game that's happening on the weekend, you don't care about sleeping. When you're wheezing, short of breath and the only thing that you care about is becoming the Hokage, then you will become the Hokage.

And I'm here to tell you that you say you want it. You don't want it bad, you probably just kinda want it. You don't want it as much as you want to be popular. You don't want it as much as you want to play with your friends. You don't want to become the Hokage as much as you want to sleep.

You have to be willing to work off of 3 hours, 2 hours of sleep a day. If you really want it, then some days, you might have to stay up three days in a row because if you go to sleep, you might miss the opportunity to become the Hokage. That's how bad you have to want it."

When Naruto was finished his speech, the trio of kids in front of him, they couldn't utter any words through their gobsmacked expressions. Even Sasuke and Hinata were mightily impressed with the speech. Eventually, the leader of the group spoke up.

"Sugoi! That was so cool Naruto-niichan! Come on guys, were gonna train heaps hard to be awesome like the boss!" the moment that he said this, Konohamaru sped off like a rocket dragging his two friends with him.

"Wait! Damn you kids!" It seemed that they took his intended insulting speech in a positive way and now they thought that that was him accepting of the term 'boss'.

"Where did that come from Naruto-kun? It was really inspiring." Hinata said with a smile. Her confidence was something that whilst on the mend, it was still something that was fragile. Hearing the speech from her teammate definitely did nothing to hinder that confidence.

Even Sasuke, when he heard it, couldn't help but be impressed with what his teammate had said. "Eh it wasn't all that great. The video that I saw it from says it much better than I did. It was something that I used to watch whenever I felt like giving up. Whenever I watch it, it always allows me to go that one extra step to completing my goal.

"Well I liked it very much Naruto-kun." Hinata stated to her friend.

"Err, thanks, I guess." The blonde haired boy replied as receiving thanks wasn't something that he was used to. With nothing better to do, Naruto ushered the rest of his team away from where they were to the meeting spot Kakashi had asked for them to group up.

**A little bit later**

Because of their scuffle with the sand ninjas, Team Seven didn't have to wait all that long for their sensei Kakashi to arrive. "Morning people. This might be a bit sudden but I have nominated you guys for the chunin exams."

"Yes! This is gonna be so awesome!" Naruto cheered. He was hopeful that Kakashi-sensei was going to nominate them for the exams ever since he saw those Sunagakure ninjas in the village.

"That was really all that I had to say to you guys for today. There is a week before the exams which start at the academy. You are all free to go and do what you want. There will be no more missions until the exams."

"Yeah! Let's go train extra hard so we are as best prepared for our ascension to chunin." In the eyes of Naruto, there was simply no other outcome than Team Seven all getting a promotion to the rank of chunin. It went to show just how much confidence that the Uzumaki genin had in his team. Sasuke and Hinata were both of the same mould as they wanted to go and compete.

Kakashi decided that he would follow on in secret. He was curious as to what his students would be able to come up with on their own. They hadn't exactly had a proper training session in a substantial amount of time.

When they got to the training ground, Naruto was the first to speak up. "Alright, before we do the training, I want to show you something that I learnt yesterday after we went home." Sasuke and Hinata were curious to see what their teammate had in store for them.

Going through the hand seals, Hinata and Sasuke didn't see the inherit danger that their teammate was in. Kakashi did but since he was quite far away, he didn't have the speed to race over to his student and stop him from using the jutsu.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Jutsu)**" The moment that Naruto said this and planted his hand on the ground, he instantly disappeared.

"…Was that supposed to happen?" Sasuke questioned at the sight of grey smoke covering up where Naruto stood.

"No it wasn't! fuck!" their sensei appearing behind them was not something that they expected and thus, they were shocked. To add onto their eminent worry, this was the first time that they had ever heard their sensei swear.

Just because the book that Naruto read, stated that when using said technique without signing a contract that it didn't work, it didn't stop Naruto from trying it. The problem for Kakashi was only kami-sama knew where the hell his curious student was in the world.

There was no telling even if he would survive depending on where he ended up. He could only hope for the sake of his sensei's son.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Honestly, I could have written some filler missions in here and extended it a few chapters before the chunin exams but they would have become forced. Forcing chapters loses your motivation to write severely and I don't want that to happen as it will make me lose interest in writing.**

**You Tube search How bad do you want it (Success) if you are interesting in the speech that Naruto gave.**


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